System and method for managing a talent platform

ABSTRACT

Improved systems and methods of facilitating placement of candidates between employers and recruiters are provided. In various implementations, such systems and methods provide an integrated interface within the ATS platform for employers and integrated interface within the talent platforms for recruiters. In another implementation, a talent platform exchange is provided that permits disparate talent platforms to communicate and thus more effectively manage the hiring process from within the platform. To this end, interfaces and other components may be provided which facilitate communication between talent platforms and a talent platform exchange. Such communication capability would enable a direct hire marketplace where employers engage recruiters to fill positions through their presently implemented ATSs.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/543,609, entitled “SYSTEM ANDMETHOD FOR MANAGING A TALENT PLATFORM EXCHANGE,” filed on Oct. 5, 2011,which application is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

Aspects of the present invention disclosed herein relate generally tosystems and methods for managing recruitment and hiring efforts and moreparticularly to apparatus and processes for managing and facilitatingthe placement of candidates between employers and recruiters.

Discussion of Related Art

Often, companies seeking to fill job openings use employing systemsreferred to in the art as Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), commerciallyavailable from ATS companies (e.g., the BrassRing talent platformavailable from Kenexa, Wayne, Pa., the Bullhorn ATS available fromBullhorn, Boston, Mass.). Such ATSs handle job applications and manageresume data from a number of candidates. These ATSs also provide acentral location and database for a company's recruitment efforts (e.g.,perform “talent management” functions). Typically, ATSs are built tobetter assist management of resumes and applicant information bycollecting candidate inputted data from the company website, extractingcandidate data from applicants on company used job boards or sourcingdata from the company's own database of past candidates. ATS companiesmay also provide an assortment of value-added recruiting and sourcingservices to employers looking for quality candidates. Some servicesoffered by the ATS companies may include employment branding, candidatetracking and on-boarding.

Companies seeking to fill job requisitions may also look outside the ATSto other resources such as professional recruiters, employment agencies,recruitment websites, job search engines and social media to findqualified candidates to fill open requisitions or job orders.Professional recruiters or employment agencies work to match companyopen positions with the agencies' candidate pool on a contingency feebasis. A contingency or placement fee is usually paid by the companywhen the matched candidate accepts the position.

SUMMARY

It is appreciated that United States unemployment rate continues to behigh. However, even with a high unemployment rate many companies arehaving trouble filling open positions because of an increasing disparitybetween critical and non-critical skills talent. The U.S. job market ismigrating to a highly specialized labor force with a focus towardcritical or specialized skills talent. It is projected that jobs forhighly skilled talent will continue to increase, while only about halfof the available highly skilled talent will qualify for those jobs.These dynamics result in an enormous amount of unqualified applicantsapplying to open high skilled positions and increasing the company'sinternal recruitment labor costs.

According to one aspect of the present invention, typical recruitmentand hiring practices used by companies and organizations are extremelyinefficient at placing the most qualified candidates to open positions.Generally, these hiring methods may only provide approximately 14%likelihood of a successful hiring decision. Poor recruitment practicesmay further lead to high staff turnover, as employees may be mismatchedto their position and may leave as a result of poor performance orunhappiness. High turnover may further result in even higher recruitmentcosts; as those employees leave additional recruitment efforts may needto be undertaken. Depending upon the employee's position, the costs ofemployee turnover can be staggering, ranging anywhere from half to fivetimes an employee's annual wages.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is appreciated thatcompanies seeking to facilitate and manage recruitment and hiringefforts rely on ATS systems (e.g., talent management platforms)described above. However, these ATS systems are non-optimal and do notadequately manage the hiring process. Talent management platform systems(hereinafter “talent platforms”) used by staffing firms, recruiters andemployers do not communicate with each other, and therefore, users ofsuch platforms must go outside of such systems to find suitablecandidates. Because users of talent platform frequently operate outsideof the talent platforms to perform various hiring functions, the overallhiring functions cannot be effectively managed or evaluated. It isfurther appreciated that these ATS systems do not provide the functionsnecessary to filter through the number of unqualified applicants,causing the employers with open positions to rely on specializedstaffing firms to decrease the time-to-fill and cost per hire.

According to another aspect of the present invention, it is appreciatedthat when companies go outside of their ATSs to engage recruiters andfacilitate placement of candidate, the ATS companies are removed fromthe recruitment activity. Accordingly, the ATS companies miss theopportunity to monetize the $12 B contingency direct hire placementmarket. In addition, staffing agencies typically work with only a selectnumber of clients and have a limited number of requisitions or joborders available to them. Furthermore, staffing companies competeagainst each other for placing candidates, often duplicating submissions(i.e. multiple recruiters submitting the same candidate more than oncefor the same job opening).

Accordingly, there is a need for improved systems and methods offacilitating placement of candidates between employers and recruiters.Such systems and methods provide an integrated interface within the ATSplatform for employers and integrated interface within the talentplatforms for recruiters. According to one aspect of the presentinvention, a talent platform exchange is provided that permits disparatetalent platforms to communicate and thus more effectively manage thehiring process from within the platform. To this end, interfaces andother components may be provided which facilitate communication betweentalent platforms and a talent platform exchange. Such communicationcapability would enable a direct hire marketplace where employers engagerecruiters to fill positions through their presently implemented ATSs.

Aspects and examples disclosed herein are further directed to staffingtalent platforms and hiring talent platforms which allow the talentplatform exchange to distribute open job requisitions from employers torecruiters, channel qualified candidate submittals from recruiters toemployers, track placement activity and manage invoices, and furthermanage collections and distribution of payments. The talent platformexchange system provides the systems and processes to facilitate theplacement of candidates to open job orders within interfaces familiar tostaffing and hiring parties.

According to another aspect of the present invention, it is appreciatedthat a distributed system that manages the placement process with allavailable candidates and available jobs is beneficial for thecandidates, recruiters, staffing personnel in companies and talentplatform providers. For instance, because candidate information isshared among multiple talent platforms, exposure of a particularcandidate is increased and is more likely to be matched with aparticular job order. For employers, the number of candidates that canbe located and vetted is increased, thereby increasing the likelihoodthat a placement is made in less time, decreasing recruitment costs andincreasing revenue as a result. For companies and their staffingpersonnel, they are able to find qualified candidates, as well asperform and manage placement functions though a single platform.

For talent platform providers, their functionally is increased and thesetalent platforms are relied upon to perform more aspects of the hiringtransactions. Also, as outlined further below, talent platform providersmay be paid a portion of the placement fee, incorporating them into amarket they are typically excluded from and thus increasing the revenuefor the use of such platforms.

For agencies (i.e., recruiters), access to new clients can be increased,thereby increasing the quality of provided open job orders. Increasedquantity of job orders can allow agencies to target specific job marketsmatching the agency's exciting pool of candidates. Also, job ordersprovided include an abundance of information and selling points, furtherallowing the agency to communicate directly with the employer.Consistent access to targeted job orders may further reduce sales andmarketing expenses, leaving the agency to focus on quality recruitingand increasing quality placements. Easy, real-time access throughexisting platforms may further simplify the agency experience.

In yet another aspect, the talent exchange provides search and matchingcapabilities to most effectively match candidates to job orders. Foragencies, they are provided tools to more effectively locate job ordersto be fill and prioritize those job orders that should be worked on(e.g. by placement, probability, geography, fee, etc.). For staffingpersonnel, functionality may be provided that filters, for a particularjob order, the available pool of candidates to find an optimal quantityof candidates that are of optimal quality.

In yet another aspect, the talent exchange provides other offeringtypically associated with ATS platforms such as employee branding,succession planning, candidate assessment and learning management.Further, for the placement firm, tools may be provided to measure andmanage the performance of agency personnel (e.g., recruiters). Forinstance, recruiters may be evaluated based on what types of job ordersthey fill (e.g., by industry, location, etc.) so that placement firmsmay position recruiters to maximize firm profit.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a computer system isprovided for managing and enabling recruiting and sourcing activities.The computer system comprises a memory storing a plurality of datapoints, including at least one of a plurality of job orders from aplurality of hiring talent platforms and a plurality of candidates froma plurality of staffing talent platforms, at least one processor coupledto the memory, a hiring application interface executed by the at leastone processor and configured to receive, from at least one hiring talentplatform, at least one job order, the plurality of hiring talentplatforms including a first hiring talent platform and a second hiringtalent platform, a talent platform exchange engine executed by the atleast one processor and configured to aggregate the plurality of datapoints, producing a summary data point wherein the summary data point isstored in the memory, and a staffing application interface executed bythe at least one processor and configured to receive, from at least onestaffing talent platform, requests to store at least one candidateassociated with at least one job order, the plurality of staffing talentplatforms including a first staffing talent platform and a secondstaffing talent platform.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a first job orderis received from the first hiring talent platform and a second job orderis received from the second hiring talent platform, wherein the firstand the second hiring platforms are different. According to anotherembodiment, a first candidate is received from the first staffing talentplatform and a second candidate is received from the second staffingtalent platform, wherein the first and the second staffing platforms aredifferent. According to another embodiment, a talent platform exchangeinterface is integrated into the plurality of hiring talent platformsand the plurality of staffing party platforms. According to anotherembodiment, the plurality of job orders are posted to the plurality ofhiring talent platforms by a plurality of hiring parties and wherein theplurality of candidates are submitted to the plurality of job orders bya plurality of hiring parties via the plurality of staffing talentplatforms.

According to another embodiment, the summary data point is produced fromat least one of job order information associated with the plurality ofjob orders, candidate information, hiring party information associatedwith the plurality of hiring parties and staffing party informationassociated with the plurality of staffing parties. According to anotherembodiment, the summary data point is transmitted to at least one of theplurality of hiring talent platforms and the plurality of staffingtalent platforms.

According to another embodiment, the summary data point is displayed toat least one of the plurality of hiring parties via the plurality ofhiring talent platforms and the plurality of staffing parties via theplurality of staffing talent platforms. According to another embodiment,the summary data point is a recruiter rating produced from at least oneof staffing party information associated with the plurality of staffingparties. According to another embodiment, the system further comprises acomponent configured to retrieve a plurality of job orders from aplurality of job sources.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a computerimplemented method is provided for managing and enabling recruiting andsourcing activities. The method comprises acts of receiving, by acomputer, a plurality of job orders from a plurality of hiring talentplatforms, storing, by the computer, the plurality of job orders inmemory, processing the plurality of job orders to conceal informationassociated with at least one of the plurality of job orders and theplurality of hiring talent platforms, transmitting, by the computer, theplurality of job orders to the plurality of staffing talent platforms,receiving, by the computer, a plurality of candidates associated withthe job orders from the plurality of staffing talent platforms, storing,by the computer, the plurality of candidates in the memory,transmitting, by the computer, the plurality of candidates to theplurality of hiring talent platforms, and receiving a placement fee fromat least one hiring party for placement of at least one candidate.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the method furthercomprises acts of receiving a first job order from the first hiringtalent platform, and receiving a second job order from the second hiringtalent platform. According to one embodiment of the present invention,the method further comprises acts of receiving a first candidate fromthe first staffing talent platform and receiving a second candidate fromthe second staffing talent platform.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the method furthercomprises acts of posting the plurality of job orders to the pluralityof hiring talent platforms by a plurality of hiring parties andsubmitting the plurality of candidates to the plurality of job orders bya plurality of hiring parties via the plurality of staffing talentplatforms. According to another embodiment of the present invention, themethod further comprises acts of an act of producing a summary datapoint from at least one of job order information associated with theplurality of job orders, candidate information, hiring party informationassociated with the plurality of hiring parties and staffing partyinformation associated with the plurality of staffing parties.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the act ofproducing the summary data point further comprises an act of producing arecruiter rating from at least one of staffing party informationassociated with the plurality of staffing parties. According to anotherembodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises an actof retrieving, by the computer, a plurality of job orders from aplurality of job sources.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the act ofreceiving the placement fee further comprises an act of receiving theplacement fee of a predetermined percentage of a salary of the at leastone candidate. According to another embodiment of the present invention,the method further comprises acts of distributing a first percentage ofthe placement fee to at least one staffing party, distributing a secondpercentage of the placement fee to at least one hiring talent platform,distributing a third percentage of the placement fee to at least onestaffing talent platform, and distributing a fourth percentage of theplacement fee to the talent platform exchange engine.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a non-transitorycomputer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructionfor managing and enabling recruiting and sourcing activities isprovided. In one embodiment, the medium includes instructions thatcauses at least one processor to receive a plurality of job orders froma plurality of hiring talent platforms, store the plurality of joborders in memory, process the plurality of job orders to concealinformation associated with at least one of the plurality of job ordersand the plurality of hiring talent platforms, transmit the plurality ofjob orders to the plurality of staffing talent platforms, receive aplurality of candidates associated with the job orders from theplurality of staffing talent platforms, store the plurality ofcandidates in the memory, transmit the plurality of candidates to theplurality of hiring talent platforms, and receive a placement fee fromat least one hiring party for placement of at least one candidate.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a computerimplemented method for managing and enabling recruiting and sourcingactivities is provided. The method comprises acts of receiving aplurality of job orders, storing, by the computer system, the pluralityof job orders in a memory of the computer system, transmitting, by thecomputer system, the plurality of job orders to one or more computersystems, receiving, by the computer system, a plurality of candidatesassociated with the plurality of job orders, storing, by the computer,the plurality of candidates in the memory, tracking, by the computer, aplacement of at least one candidate to at least one of the plurality ofjob orders, and processing a receipt of a placement fee from at leastone hiring party for the placement of the at least one candidate.

According to one embodiment, the act of processing the receipt of theplacement fee further comprises an act of receiving the placement fee ofa predetermined percentage of a salary of the at least one candidate.According to another embodiment, the method further comprises an act ofallocating at least a portion of the placement fee to an operator of thecomputer system that facilitates the placement.

According to another embodiment, the method further comprises an act ofallocating at least a portion of the placement fee to a party thatcompletes the placement of the at least one candidate. According toanother embodiment, the method further comprises acts of distributing afirst percentage of the placement fee to at least one staffing party,distributing a second percentage of the placement fee to at least onehiring talent platform, distributing a third percentage of the placementfee to at least one staffing talent platform, and distributing a fourthpercentage of the placement fee to an operator of a talent platformexchange engine.

According to another embodiment, the method further comprises an act ofdetermining, for at least one of the plurality of job orders, a score ofat least one of the plurality of candidates in relation to the at leastone job order. According to another embodiment, the method furthercomprises an act of determining respective scores for the plurality ofcandidates in relation to the at least one job order. According toanother embodiment, the method further comprises an act of determining arecommended set of the plurality of candidates based on the determinedrespective scores for the plurality of candidates.

According to another embodiment, the method further comprises an act offacilitating, by the computer system, a communication between aplurality of parties to negotiate the placement fee. According toanother embodiment, the method further comprises an act of indicating,for at least one of the plurality of job orders, that the at least onejob order is out for bid.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a computer systemis provided for managing and enabling recruiting and sourcingactivities. The computer system comprises a memory storing a pluralityof job orders, at least one processor coupled to the memory, aninterface coupled to the at least one processor, the interface beingadapted to transmit the plurality of job orders to one or more computersystems, and wherein the interface is adapted to receive a plurality ofcandidates associated with the plurality of job orders, wherein thememory is further adapted to store the plurality of candidates in thememory, wherein the processor is adapted to track a placement of atleast one candidate to at least one of the plurality of job orders, andwherein the processor is adapted to process a receipt of a placement feefrom at least one hiring party for the placement of the at least onecandidate.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the processor isadapted to process the placement fee of a predetermined percentage of asalary of the at least one candidate. According to another embodiment,the processor is adapted to allocate at least a portion of the placementfee to an operator of the computer system that facilitates theplacement.

According to another embodiment, the processor is adapted to allocate atleast a portion of the placement fee to a party that completes theplacement of the at least one candidate. According to anotherembodiment, the processor is adapted to distribute a first percentage ofthe placement fee to at least one staffing party, is adapted todistribute a second percentage of the placement fee to at least onehiring talent platform, is adapted to distribute a third percentage ofthe placement fee to at least one staffing talent platform, and isadapted to distribute a fourth percentage of the placement fee to anoperator of a talent platform exchange engine.

According to another embodiment, the processor is adapted to determine,for at least one of the plurality of job orders, a score of at least oneof the plurality of candidates in relation to the at least one joborder. According to another embodiment, the processor is adapted todetermine respective scores for the plurality of candidates in relationto the at least one job order.

According to another embodiment, the processor is adapted to determine arecommended set of the plurality of candidates based on the determinedrespective scores for the plurality of candidates. According to anotherembodiment, the processor is adapted to facilitate a communicationbetween a plurality of parties to negotiate the placement fee. Accordingto another embodiment, the processor indicates, for at least one of theplurality of job orders, that the at least one job order is out for bid.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a computerimplemented method is provided for managing and enabling recruiting andsourcing activities in a distributed computer system. The methodcomprises acts of receiving a plurality of job orders, storing, by thecomputer system, the plurality of job orders in a memory of the computersystem, transmitting, by the computer system, the plurality of joborders to one or more computer systems, receiving, by the computersystem, a plurality of candidates associated with the plurality of joborders, storing, by the computer, the plurality of candidates in thememory, and determining, by the computer for at least one of theplurality of job orders, a score of at least one of the plurality ofcandidates in relation to the at least one job order.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the method furthercomprises an act of determining respective scores for the plurality ofcandidates in relation to the at least one job order. According to oneembodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises an actof determining a recommended set of the plurality of candidates based onthe determined respective scores for the plurality of candidates.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the method furthercomprises an act of filtering the plurality of candidates to determine aoptimal number and quality of candidates. According to one embodiment ofthe present invention, the method further comprises an act of filteringthe plurality of candidates based at least in part on their respectivescores for the plurality of candidates in relation to the at least onejob order.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the plurality ofjob orders are received from one or more independent entities includinghiring talent platforms, job boards, job banks, social media, and careersites. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the methodfurther comprises an act of directing one or more of the plurality ofjob orders to a staffing party based on a performance of the staffingparty.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the method furthercomprises an act of directing the one or more of the plurality of joborders to the staffing party based on a determined capability of thestaffing party to fulfill the one or more of the plurality of joborders. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the methodfurther comprises an act of determining a performance rating for atleast one staffing party based at least in part on their historicalperformance of placement of the plurality of job orders. According toone embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises anact of determining the performance rating in relation to other userswithin the distributed computer system.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a computer systemis provided for managing and enabling recruiting and sourcingactivities. The computer system comprises an interface adapted toreceive a plurality of job orders, the interface being adapted totransmit the plurality of job orders to one or more computer systems,the interface being further adapted to receive a plurality of candidatesassociated with the plurality of job orders, a memory adapted to storethe plurality of job orders and the plurality of candidates, and aprocessor adapted to determine for at least one of the plurality of joborders, a score of at least one of the plurality of candidates inrelation to the at least one job order.

According to one embodiment, the processor is adapted to determinerespective scores for the plurality of candidates in relation to the atleast one job order. According to another embodiment, the processor isadapted to determine a recommended set of the plurality of candidatesbased on the determined respective scores for the plurality ofcandidates. According to another embodiment, the processor is adapted tofilter the plurality of candidates to determine a optimal number andquality of candidates.

According to another embodiment, the processor is adapted to filter theplurality of candidates based at least in part on their respectivescores for the plurality of candidates in relation to the at least onejob order. According to another embodiment, the plurality of job ordersare received from one or more independent entities including hiringtalent platforms, job boards, job banks, social media, and career sites.

According to another embodiment, the processor is adapted to direct oneor more of the plurality of job orders to a staffing party based on aperformance of the staffing party. According to another embodiment, theprocessor is adapted to direct the one or more of the plurality of joborders to the staffing party based on a determined capability of thestaffing party to fulfill the one or more of the plurality of joborders.

According to another embodiment, the processor is adapted to determine aperformance rating for at least one staffing party based at least inpart on their historical performance of placement of the plurality ofjob orders. According to another embodiment, the processor is adapted todetermine the performance rating in relation to other users within thedistributed computer system.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a computerimplemented method is provided for managing and enabling recruiting andsourcing activities in a distributed computer system. The methodcomprises acts of receiving a plurality of job orders, storing, by thecomputer system, the plurality of job orders in a memory of the computersystem, transmitting, by the computer system, the plurality of joborders to one or more computer systems, receiving, by the computersystem, a plurality of candidates associated with the plurality of joborders, determining, for each of the plurality of candidates, whether aduplicate candidate exists, and if so, not permitting the creation of aduplicate candidate in the memory of the computer system.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the method furthercomprises an act of assigning a unique identifier to each of theplurality of candidates. According to one embodiment of the presentinvention, the method further comprises an act of determining at leastone placement party associated with at least one of the plurality ofcandidates, wherein the at least one placement party assists in theplacement of the at least one of the plurality of candidates.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the method furthercomprises an act of allocating, to the at least one placement party, atleast a portion of a placement fee associated with the placement of theat least one of the plurality of candidates. According to one embodimentof the present invention, the act of determining the at least oneplacement party includes an act of determining a party that submittedthe at least one candidate for a particular job order of the pluralityof job orders.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the method furthercomprises an act of displaying to a user of the distributed computersystem, detail information relating to at least one of the plurality ofcandidates responsive to the user assenting to conditions of placementof the at least one of the plurality of candidates. According to oneembodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises an actof displaying to a user of the distributed computer system, detailinformation relating to at least one of the plurality of job ordersresponsive to the user assenting to conditions of placement of at leastone of the plurality of candidates in the distributed system.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the method furthercomprises an act of authenticating, to a talent platform exchange thatpermits access to the plurality of job orders and the plurality ofcandidates, said authentication being performed via a separateapplication without the need for a separate authentication to the talentplatform exchange. According to one embodiment of the present invention,the act of determining the party further comprises and act ofdetermining the party that first submitted the at least one candidatefor a particular job order of the plurality of job orders. According toone embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises anact of prohibiting other parties from submitting the at least onecandidate for the particular job order.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a computer systemis provided for managing and enabling recruiting and sourcingactivities. The computer system comprises an interface adapted toreceive a plurality of job orders, the interface being adapted totransmit the plurality of job orders to one or more computer systems,the interface being further adapted to receive a plurality of candidatesassociated with the plurality of job orders, a memory adapted to storethe plurality of job orders and the plurality of candidates, a processoradapted to determine, for each of the plurality of candidates, whether aduplicate candidate exists, and if so, the processor is adapted toprohibit a creation of a duplicate candidate in the memory of thecomputer system.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the processor isadapted to assign a unique identifier to each of the plurality ofcandidates. According to another embodiment, the processor is adapted todetermine at least one placement party associated with at least one ofthe plurality of candidates, wherein the at least one placement partyassists in the placement of the at least one of the plurality ofcandidates.

According to another embodiment, the processor is adapted to allocate,to the at least one placement party, at least a portion of a placementfee associated with the placement of the at least one of the pluralityof candidates. According to another embodiment, the processor is adaptedto determine a party that submitted the at least one candidate for aparticular job order of the plurality of job orders.

According to another embodiment, the system further comprises a displayadapted to display to a user of the distributed computer system, detailinformation relating to at least one of the plurality of candidatesresponsive to the user assenting to conditions of placement of the atleast one of the plurality of candidates. According to anotherembodiment, the system further comprises a display adapted to display toa user of the distributed computer system, detail information relatingto at least one of the plurality of job orders responsive to the userassenting to conditions of placement of at least one of the plurality ofcandidates in the distributed system.

According to another embodiment, the processor is adapted toauthenticate, to a talent platform exchange that permits access to theplurality of job orders and the plurality of candidates, saidauthentication being performed via a separate application without theneed for a separate authentication to the talent platform exchange.According to another embodiment, the processor is adapted to determinethe party that first submitted the at least one candidate for aparticular job order of the plurality of job orders. According toanother embodiment, the processor is adapted to prohibit other partiesfrom submitting the at least one candidate for the particular job order.Still other aspects, examples, and advantages of these exemplary aspectsand examples, are discussed in detail below. Moreover, it is to beunderstood that both the foregoing information and the followingdetailed description are merely illustrative examples of various aspectsand embodiments, and are intended to provide an overview or frameworkfor understanding the nature and character of the claimed aspects andembodiments. Any example disclosed herein may be combined with any otherexample. References to “an example,” “some examples,” “an alternateexample,” “various examples,” “one example,” “at least one example,”“this and other examples” or the like are not necessarily mutuallyexclusive and are intended to indicate that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the examplemay be included in at least one example. The appearances of such termsherein are not necessarily all referring to the same example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Various aspects of at least one example are discussed below withreference to the accompanying figures, which are not intended to bedrawn to scale. The figures are included to provide an illustration anda further understanding of the various aspects and examples, and areincorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, but are notintended as a definition of the limits of the invention. The drawings,together with the remainder of the specification, serve to explainprinciples and operations of the described and claimed aspects andexamples. In the figures, each identical or nearly identical componentthat is illustrated in various figures is represented by a like numeral.For purposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in everyfigure. In the figures:

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of one example of a distributed recruitmentsystem within a network;

FIG. 1B is a block diagram of one example of a distributed recruitmentsystem;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one example of a talent platform exchangesystem for centralized management of candidate placement;

FIG. 3 is an example illustration of a staffing talent platform providedto a staffing party;

FIG. 4 is an example illustration of a search interface within astaffing talent platform;

FIG. 5 is an example illustration of an interface for generating anddisplaying performance metrics within the staffing talent platform;

FIG. 6 is an example illustration of an interface for generating anddisplaying accounting information within the staffing talent platform;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method for managing candidate placementworkflow;

FIG. 8 is an example of a notification transmitted to a staffing party;

FIG. 9 is an example illustration of a candidate management interfaceprovided by the talent platform exchange;

FIG. 10 is an example illustration of a hiring talent platform providedto a hiring party;

FIG. 11 is an example illustration of an interface for generating anddisplaying performance metrics within a hiring talent platform;

FIG. 12 is an example illustration of an interface for generating anddisplaying accounting information within a hiring talent platform;

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of a method for managing job order andcandidate placement workflow;

FIG. 14 is an example illustration of a candidate interface within thehiring talent platform;

FIG. 15 is an example illustration of a candidate list provided withinthe candidate interface within the hiring talent platform; and

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of one example of a computer system that maybe used to perform processes and functions disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As described above, ATS companies are typically removed from thecontingency direct hire placement market. While ATS companies arewithout access to the recruiters' pool of candidates, the recruiters donot have access to the ATS database of job requisitions. Accordingly,there is a need for a distributed recruitment system that providesintegrated interfaces that directly link the recruiting services withthe ATS services. Processes and systems in accord with some examplesinclude a talent platform exchange system, a first integrated interfacefor the ATS services to provide direct access to the recruiter'scandidate pool and a second integrated interface for the staffingservices to provide direct access to the ATS database of jobrequisitions.

It is to be appreciated that examples of the methods and apparatusesdiscussed herein are not limited in application to the details ofconstruction and the arrangement of components set forth in thefollowing description or illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Themethods and apparatuses are capable of implementation in other examplesand of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Examplesof specific implementations are provided herein for illustrativepurposes only and are not intended to be limiting. In particular, acts,components, elements and features discussed in connection with any oneor more examples are not intended to be excluded from a similar role inany other examples.

Also, the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose ofdescription and should not be regarded as limiting. Any references toexamples, components, elements or acts of the systems and methods hereinreferred to in the singular may also embrace examples including aplurality, and any references in plural to any example, component,element or act herein may also embrace examples including only asingularity. References in the singular or plural form are not intendedto limit the presently disclosed systems or methods, their components,acts, or elements. The use herein of “including,” “comprising,”“having,” “containing,” “involving,” and variations thereof is meant toencompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well asadditional items. References to “or” may be construed as inclusive sothat any terms described using “or” may indicate any of a single, morethan one, and all of the described terms.

System for Managing the Placement of Candidates

FIG. 1A shows one example of a distributed system 100 for managing andenabling the placement of candidates to job orders. According to variousexamples, the system 100 is implemented using one or more computersystems, such as the distributed computer system 1600 discussed belowwith regard to FIG. 16 . Thus, examples of the system 100 include avariety of hardware and software components configured to perform thefunctions described herein and examples are not limited to a particularhardware component, software component or a particular combinationthereof.

As illustrated in FIG. 1A, the logical and physical components of thesystem 100 include a talent platform exchange 102, staffing talentplatforms A, B and C 104 used by staffing parties A, B and C 106, andhiring talent platforms X, Y and Z 108 used by one or more hiringparties X, Y and Z 110, each of which described in further detailedbelow. The talent platform exchange 102 permits disparate staffingtalent platforms A, B and C to communicate with disparate hiring talentplatforms X, Y and Z and thus more effectively manage the hiring processfrom within the platform. Such communication capability enables a directhire marketplace where employers engage recruiters to fill positionsthrough their presently implemented ATSs.

One or more of the staffing parties 106 may be employment agencies,executive search firms, staffing agencies each including recruitingagents, or independent or freelance recruiters. The staffing party 106may have a network of professional contacts that could become potentialcandidates part of the candidate pool. In turn, the hiring party 110 maybe any type of corporate entity or organization or any employer seekingto fill an open position and may further include a human resources (HR)department including one or more HR employees. Hiring party 110 may openone or more job orders or requisitions (reqs.) to fill job openings.

Staffing parties A, B and C may specialize in placement of differenttypes of candidates with different skill sets and geographicalpreferences. For example, staffing party A may be a freelance recruiterand may specialize in placement within the legal field specifically inthe New England area. Staffing party B may be a recruiter part of anexecutive search firm specializing in placement of C-level candidatesworldwide. Finally, staffing party C may be a staffing agency focusingon high-tech employment placement in the Silicon Valley region.

For the sake of simplicity and ease of understanding, FIG. 1A showsstaffing parties A, B, C, hiring parties X, Y, Z, hiring talentplatforms X, Y, Z, and staffing party platforms A, B, C. However, it isappreciated that any number of staffing parties and hiring parties mayuse any number of staffing talent platforms and hiring talent platforms,respectively to access the functions and aspects of the talent platformexchange 102. The talent platform exchange 102 may be implemented as acloud-based computing platform, such as the EC2 platform, available fromAmazon.com, Seattle, Wash. However, talent platform exchange may beimplemented using other platforms and systems.

FIG. 1B shows high level aspect of talent exchange that provide searchand matching capabilities to most effectively match candidates to joborders. For a staffing party 106 searching to find a job order for aparticular candidate, the searching and matching functionally of thetalent exchange 102 provided within the staffing talent platform 104allows filtering of all available job orders posted by hiring parties toan optimal quantity of quality job orders matching the candidate'sparticular skill set. The optimal quantity of quality job orders canallow for the candidate to quickly locate the most desired job, and forthe staffing party to quickly place the candidate obtaining the maximumprofit.

For a hiring party 110 looking to find a particular candidate to fill aparticular job order, the submission and approval functionality providedwithin the hiring talent platform 108 allows filtering of all theavailable candidates to the optimal quantity of quality candidates.According to embodiments of the present invention, hiring parties postpositions to the entire staffing party community, capitalizing onrecruitment bandwidth, and thus ensuring that the hiring party quicklyreceives optimal quality candidates. By distributing postings to theentire staffing party community, the talent platform exchange mayeliminate the need for hiring parties to filter quality staffing partiesbased on subjective criteria, thus receiving candidates from allavailable sources.

As shown in the example of FIG. 1B, 100 million resumes get filtered to10 quality resumes by the talent platform exchange 102. Similarly, 80thousand job orders get submitted to the talent platform exchange 102 bythe hiring parties every month, of which only 1 job order matches theskill set of a particular candidate.

In one example, hiring parties 110 post one or more job orders to thetalent platform exchange 102 via one of the hiring party platforms 108.The talent platform exchange 102 may process the job orders and providethem to one or more staffing parties 106 via one or more staffing partyplatforms 104. Staffing parties 106 may match and submit a candidate tothe posted job order, via the staffing party platform 104, which may bereceived by the talent platform exchange 102. The talent platformexchange 102 may process the submittal and provide it to the hiringparty 110, via the hiring talent platform 108. The hiring party 110reviews the submitted candidates and selects a percentage of submittalsfor interviews, a percentage of which may receive job offers. In oneexample, the hiring party 110 then agrees to pay a placement fee to thetalent platform exchange, which can provide payment to the staffingparty 106, and the talent platforms 104, 108 involved in thetransaction.

The staffing talent platforms 104 may comprise one or more web-basedstaffing aggregators including ATS systems and customer relationshipmanagement (CRM) systems used by recruiters. Each web-based staffingaggregator may use different communication and storage protocols, whichcan be accepted and converted by the talent exchange 102, as furtherdescribed below. One example of a web-based staffing aggregatingsolution is the Surge platform available from Sendouts Inc, St Louis,Mo. In turn, the hiring talent platforms 108 may comprise one or moreATS systems used by companies and businesses. Each ATS system may alsouse different communication and storage protocols, which can be acceptedand converted by the talent exchange 102, as further described below.One example of an ATS system is the 2X BrassRing platform, availablefrom Kenexa, Wayne, Pa.

In addition to job orders provided by the hiring party platforms 108,the talent drive 112 may receive and process job postings from variousadditional sources including job boards, job banks, recruitmentwebsites, job search engines and social media, as well as other sources.Talent drive 112 may “mine” job postings from these various sources andprovide them to the talent platform exchange 102. The information fromthe job postings may be parsed, processed, formatted and stored in thetalent platform exchange 102. Various methods for accumulating or mininginformation from public sources may be used. The talent platformexchange 102 can display the job postings as job orders within thestaffing talent platforms 104 to the staffing party 106.

To ensure smooth operation and mitigation of any technical issues,customer service 114 may intervene at any point of the candidateplacement workflow, job order posting workflow or the invoicing andpayment process, further described below. Customer service may furtherperform collection functions, if the hiring party does not pay theplacement fee. Customer service may be provided by a third party system,such as Zendesk customer support system available from Zendesk.com, SanFrancisco, Calif. In one example, customer service communicates with allthe parties involved using any available communication channels, such asemail, website, community groups, Twitter, among other channels.

The job orders created within the hiring party talent platforms 110 arereceived by the talent platform exchange 102 and provided to thestaffing party 106 via the staffing talent platforms 104. As illustratedin FIG. 2 , the staffing talent platforms 104 and hiring party talentplatforms 108 are coupled to, and can exchange data with, the talentplatform exchange 102 via the network 124. The network 124 may includeany communication network through which computer systems may exchange(i.e. send or receive) information. For example, the network 124 may bea public network, such as the internet, and may include other public orprivate networks such as LANs, WANs, VAN (value added network),extranets and intranets.

The talent platform exchange 102 may include a data storage 116, ahiring application interface 120, a staffing application interface 118,a talent platform exchange engine 122, and load balancers 126. In theexample shown in FIG. 2 , the hiring party platforms 108 may communicatewith the talent platform exchange 102 via the hiring applicationinterface 120 and the staffing talent platforms 104 may communicate withthe talent platform exchange 102 via the staffing application interface118.

In some examples, the staffing application interface 118 and the hiringapplication interface 120 can be executed as an Application ProgrammingInterface (API). API is an interface implemented by a software programto enable interaction with other software programs. APIs can provide oneor more utilities and enable communication of a defined set of requestmessages and defines the structure of response messages. The staffingapplication interface 118 and the hiring application interface 120include software logic, including the interface logic that enables thetalent platform exchange 102 to interface with the talent platforms 104,108 and the logic that drives reporting. However, as explained furtherbelow, various techniques and protocols for communicating informationmay be used without departing from the scope of the examples disclosedherein.

The talent platform exchange 102 may further include load balancers 126,which in one embodiment, ensure that the transaction load is evenlydistributed across the application tier and also maintain secureconnections (for example using https), as well as capture volume andperformance statistics for reporting purposes. The load balancers 126may also support business continuity by enabling re-routing oftransactions in the event of database or application issues.

Continuing the example of FIG. 2 , the hiring application interface 120and the staffing application interface 118 may communicate with the datastorage 116. The data storage 116 depicted in FIG. 2 may includecomponents that store and retrieve information. Some of the methods andtechniques of storing and retrieving information from the data storageare described below with reference to computer system 1602 and FIG. 16 .In general, the information may include any information associated withcandidates provided by the staffing party 106, any informationassociated with job orders provided by the hiring party 110, or anyinformation associated with the staffing and hiring parties 106, 110themselves. For example, information may include reference information,transaction information, candidate profile information, paymentinformation, fee information, candidate or employee trackinginformation, staffing party metric information, hiring party metricinformation, accounting information, job order information, such as fulltime, part-time, contract or contingent labor basis, position location,staffing party ID numbers, hiring party ID numbers, candidate ID numbersand job order ID numbers, as well as other information.

Information received at the hiring application interface 120 and thestaffing application interface 118 may include data points may be storedin the data storage 116 in any logical construction capable of storinginformation on a computer readable medium. For example, logicalstructures may include, among other structures, flat files, indexedfiles, hierarchical databases, relational databases or object orienteddatabases. The data may be modeled using unique and foreign keyrelationships and indexes. The unique and foreign key relationships andindexes may be established between the various fields and tables toensure both data integrity and data interchange performance. One exampleof data storage 116 includes an instance of Amazon's Relational DatabaseService (RDS) which packages MySQL databases, available from Amazon.com,Seattle, Wash.

Continuing the example of FIG. 2 , the talent platform exchange engine122 communicates with the data storage 116, the hiring applicationinterface 120 and the staffing application interface 118. Alternatively,the hiring application interface 120 and the staffing applicationinterface 118 can communicate with the talent platform exchange engine122, which can store the received information in the data storage 116.In another embodiment (not shown), the talent platform exchange engine122 is executed outside of the talent platform exchange 102.

Continuing the example of FIG. 1A, communications between the hiringtalent platforms 108 and the staffing talent platforms 104 may beimplemented using messaging and security protocols that allowinteroperability of diverse range of systems. In one example,communication messages comply with a communication protocol that iscommon to the talent platform exchange, the hiring talent platforms 108and the staffing talent platforms 104. The systems described herein mayemploy any method of communication of business information between twoelectronic devices over a network without human intervention. Forexample, methods may include web services, cloud computing services, orany other method that allows communication of electronic businessinformation in an interoperable, secure, and consistent manner.

For example, any protocol used may define specifications and guidelinesfor processing, transmitting, receiving, encrypting and structuring thecommunication message. In one example, the received information mayinclude an envelope, which defines what is in the message and how toprocess it, a set of encoding rules for expressing instances ofapplication-defined data types, and a convention for representingprocedure calls and responses.

In one example, upon receiving information from one of the sendingsystems (e.g. job order information from one of the hiring talentplatforms 108), the talent platform exchange 102 may validate thesending system as part of an approved network of systems. The talentplatform exchange 102 can further verify that the envelope meets definedspecification and that the contained information conforms to the agreedguidelines. The system may also convert the received information intoany number of formats used by the receiving system (e.g. one of thestaffing talent platforms 104) to store and process the containedinformation. In addition, security protocols can be used forcommunication between systems. Any number of security protocols may beused that enforce integrity and confidentiality in the communicatedmessages.

The talent platform exchange engine 122 may perform or more dataprocessing activities, which can include determination of qualitativedata, as described below with respect to assessment of the recruiterrating. In one example, the talent platform exchange engine 122 maydetermine the rating for the staffing party quantitatively, tracking thestaffing party's activity and candidate placement performance.Determining the staffing party rating quantitatively may eliminate theneed for hiring parties to quality staffing parties based on subjectivecriteria and receive candidates from all available sources.

The talent platform exchange engine 122 may perform or more aggregatingand accumulation processes with information received from the hiringtalent platform and the staffing party platform. The aggregation oraccumulation of information may produce one or more summary data pointswhich may be stored in the data storage 116. The summary data points(summary information) may be configured to be sent to any requestingtalent platform or user of one of the talent platforms, for example inthe form of performance metrics, transaction information or accountinginformation for reporting purposes. For example, summary data points mayinclude hiring party information, such as total number of hiring parties(enterprise), and total number of hiring party users. Summaryinformation may also include job order information, such as total numberof job orders posted, total number of job orders active, total number ofjob orders active with approved candidates, total number of job ordersfilled, and total number of job orders closed. Summary date points mayfurther include submittal and placement information such as, totalnumber of submitted candidates, total number of submittals reviewed byhiring party, total number of submittals approved by the hiring party,total number of submittals rejected, total number of placements, totalnumber of candidate starts, total number of starts satisfying guaranteeperiod, and total number of starts not satisfying guarantee period.

In addition, summary data points may include fees and invoicinginformation, such as total amount of fees invoiced to hiring party,total amount of fees paid by hiring party, total amount of fees owed byhiring party, money value of each job order, dollar value of each hiringparty, dollar value of each hiring party user, average placement fee forall job orders posted, average placement fee for all job orders filled,and average days to fill a job order. Summary information may alsoinclude hiring party conversion information (in terms of cumulativeconversions and percentages), and may include submittals per job order,candidates approved per job order and placements per job order.

Similarly, summary data points may also include staffing partyinformation such as the total number of staffing parties and the totalnumber of staffing party users. Summary staffing party information mayalso include job order information such as the total number of joborders submitted to the talent platform exchange, the total number ofsubmitted candidates, the total number of submittals approved by thehiring party, the total number of submittals rejected, the total numberof candidate starts, the total number of starts satisfying guaranteeperiod, and the total number of starts not satisfying guarantee period.

Summary data points may further include staffing party fee and invoicinginformation, such as the total amount of fees invoiced by the staffingparty, the total amount of fees paid to the staffing party, the totalamount of fees owed to the staffing party, the total amount of potentialfees currently offered, the dollar value of each job submittal, thedollar value of each approved submittal, the dollar value of eachstaffing party user, average fee per placement, and the average days tofill a job order. In addition, summary date points may include hiringparty conversion information (in terms of cumulative conversions andpercentages), such as the candidate submittal to hiring partyacceptance, the candidate acceptance to placement, and the candidatesubmittal to placement.

Furthermore, the talent platform exchange engine 122 may perform avariety of data processing activities. To perform data processingactivities, the talent platform exchange engine 122 may accessinformation stored in the data storage 116. Data processing methods andtechniques that are performed by the talent platform exchange engine 122can be executed by one or more processors, as further described withreference to FIG. 16 .

Some of the data processing activities can include mapping or matchingof information stored in the data storage 116 to related informationreceived by the hiring application interface 120 and staffingapplication interface 118 of the talent platform exchange 102. Anymethods or techniques of data integration can be used and may includemethods of performing data driven mapping or semantic mapping by thetalent platform exchange engine 122 to the related information stored inthe data storage 116. For example, information relating to a candidatemay be mapped to information stored in the data storage 116 based on thecandidate's ID number.

Other data processing activities can include processing ofauthentication and registration information. The staffing party and thehiring party can provide the talent platform exchange with registrationinformation at the enterprise level and at the individual user/adminlevel. In one embodiment, multiple users within the hiring party andstaffing party organization can have a unique user name and password.Authentication processes can initially capture hiring party and thestaffing party enterprise and user data, which can be shared with talentplatform exchange at several authentication points. Using the enterpriseand user data the talent platform exchange can identify users and therelated activity.

Other data processing activities can include filtering of job ordersreceived from the hiring talent platforms 108 to provide a subset of thereceived job orders to the staffing talent platform 104. These filteringdata processing functions may direct job orders to the staffing partiesthat are in the best position to fill them. In one example, thefiltering is based on information related to a particular staffing partyor staffing talent platform, geographical information, job orderinformation, as well as other information. For example, the talentplatform exchange engine 122 determines that staffing party Aspecializes in placement within the legal field specifically in the NewEngland area. The talent platform exchange engine 122 may filter joborders, creating a subset of job orders with data fields associated withgeographical location matching geographical locations in the New Englandarea and data fields with the category information matching the legalfield. This subset of job orders can then be provided to staffing partyA via the staffing talent platform A.

In addition, the talent platform exchange 122 may provide processes forinvoicing, collecting and distribution of funds as described below withreference to FIG. 13 . At any point in these processes, the talentplatform exchange can prompt the involved parties for input, sentverification data and notify customer service to verify information.Talent platform exchange 102 may further manage the invoicing,collection and payment distribution processes for the staffing party,the hiring party and the talent platforms. In one example, the talentplatform exchange 102 may receive candidate status updates from both thehiring talent platform and the staffing talent platforms. For example,when a candidate status changes to “hired” or “placed” within the hiringtalent platform, the talent platform exchange can follow the invoicingprocess describe further below.

Staffing Talent Platform

FIG. 3 shows one example of the staffing talent platforms 104 used bythe staffing party 106. The staffing talent platforms 104 may providevarious interfaces for the staffing party, for example, a candidateinterface to enter and edit candidate information, a workflow interfaceto manage placement of candidates through a workflow process, a companyinterface for management of company information and company contacts.

According to various examples, the staffing talent platforms 104 mayprovide an integrated talent platform exchange interface to accessaspects and functions provided the talent platform exchange 102. Asshown in FIG. 3 , the talent platform exchange interface within thestaffing talent platforms 104 is presented as an “XpressHire” icon. Inone example, by clicking the “XpressHire” icon, the staffing party 106may access aspects and functions of the talent platform exchange 102 viathe staffing application interface 118. In one embodiment, aspects andfunctions of the talent platform exchange 102 are displayed within thestaffing talent platforms 104. Alternatively, the aspects and functionsof the talent platform exchange 102 may be displayed in anotherinterface, for example, as a separate window.

In one example, the talent platform exchange 102 can provide automaticauthentication to the staffing party accessing the talent platformexchange via the staffing talent platforms 104. In one example, thestaffing talent platforms 104 can share and/or authenticate a staffingparty user data and login information with talent platform exchange 102.It is appreciated that this automatic authentication can eliminate theneed for the staffing party to manually create a talent platformexchange account and separately log-in to the talent platform exchange.

The staffing talent platforms 104 may display job orders to the staffingparty 106 provided by the talent platform exchange 102, in one exampleby displaying a sortable list of job orders. The job orders list mayinclude additional information relating to each job order in one or moredata fields, such as the date the job order was opened, the title of thejob order and the company providing the job order, the job order status(e.g. open/active or closed), job order type (e.g. “Hot” or “Urgent”)and category (e.g. IT, Banking, Accounting, Customer Service, etc.). Thelist of job orders may be sorted based on each of the job order fields.The staffing talent platforms 104 may also display to the staffing party106 the job orders previously worked on by the staffing party, forexample as a separate tab labeled “My Open Job Orders.” The staffingtalent platforms 104 may further display job orders previously saved bythe staffing party, but which no candidates have been matched as aseparated tab labeled “My Open Job Orders without Matches.”

The staffing talent platforms 104 may provide for the staffing agent 106to search the talent platform exchange 102 for job orders matchingvarious criteria. FIG. 4 shows one example of a search interface(displayed within the staffing talent platforms as “Req Hunter”). Withinthe search interface, the staffing agent 106 may search for job ordersby completing one or more job order data fields relating to various joborder criteria, such as Industry, Title, Skill, Location, Company,Salary Range and Fee. Within each data field the staffing party mayfurther select additional search criteria associated with job orders,for example by selecting “add another.”

In one example, the staffing talent platforms 104 access the talentplatform exchange 102 to retrieve search results matching the searchcriteria. After the staffing party 106 enters search criteria, thestaffing party 106 can select “Review” to access the search results. Inone example, the search results are displayed to the staffing party as alist of job orders below the selected search criteria. The staffingtalent platforms 104 may further provide for the staffing party 106 toimport one or more previously retrieved job orders into the selectedlist of job orders, for example, by selecting the “import” button.

In one example, the staffing talent platforms 104 may further providefor the staffing party to save the list of job orders retrieved as aresult of the search, by for example selecting the “save” button. Theselected list of job orders may be saved to the saved job orders list(i.e. “My Open Job Orders” as described above). Periodically, thestaffing party platform 104 may perform the saved searches, in at leastone example, to refresh the job orders displayed to the staffing party106. In one example, the saved searches may be performed hourly, daily,or weekly. Any additional job orders located as part of the periodicsearches can also be added by the talent platform exchange 102 to thesaved job orders list. The staffing talent platforms 104 may furtherprovide for the staffing party to review previously performed searches,for example, by selecting “saved hunters” radial buttons. In at leastone example, any saved searches may be edited by changing theinformation in one or more data fields.

In various examples, the staffing talent platforms 104 may capture,generate and display performance metrics relating to one or morestaffing parties. This metric information may provide the staffingparties with detailed and summary activity reports and performancemetrics in real-time. Performance metrics may allow hiring parties tomake decisions about selecting candidates submitted by the staffingparties. FIG. 5 shows one example of generating and displayingperformance metrics. In one example, the performance metrics may begenerated by accessing performance information stored on the talentplatform exchange 102 via the staffing application interface 118. Theperformance information may be stored on the staffing talent platforms104 and the hiring talent platforms 108 and provided to the talentplatform exchange 102 via the staffing application interface 118 and thehiring application interface 120, respectively.

In at least one example, performance metrics may be based on staffingparty's candidate placement information, such as the number ofcandidates submitted by the staffing party for job orders (i.e.“submittals”), number of candidates approved by the hiring party (i.e.“approved”), and number of candidates placed as employees with hiringparties (i.e. “placements”), as well as other information. The staffingtalent platforms 104 may further display statistical analysis associatedwith the placement information, for example, cumulative total values. Inone example, the statistical analysis may determine the percentage ofsubmittals converted to placements (i.e. “conversion %”). As shown inFIG. 5 , both the placement information and the statistical analysis maybe displayed as a chart, allowing the staffing party to compare theinformation generated. For example, as shown in FIG. 5 , the conversionpercentage for this particular staffing party is 50 percent for approvalof candidate by a hiring party and 10 percent for placement ofcandidates with a hiring party.

In some examples, the staffing talent platforms 104 may generate anddisplay a rating associated with one or more staffing parties 106 (shownin FIG. 5 as “XpressHire Rating”). In one example, the rating isquantitative, tracking the staffing party's activity and candidateplacement performance. The rating may be quantitatively based on one ormore factors, such as volume of submittals, speed of submittals,candidate submittals that are approved versus rejected by the hiringparty (and may include information about both sourcing of candidates andmatching candidates), and candidate approvals that result in placements(may further include forming of relationships, negotiations with thehiring party and the final placement of the candidate). In one example,the rating may be based on A/B testing or bucket testing of twosimilarly situated staffing parties.

In one example, the rating tracks actual performance of the particularstaffing party 106 instead of providing a subjective rating orreflecting staffing party name recognition. Further, it is appreciatedthat consistent rating criteria may be used to evaluate staffing acrossmultiple independent organizations, thus providing a tool for evaluatingplacement organizations.

Rating information can also influence decisions by the hiring party toplace a candidate. In one example, candidates associated with staffingparties with higher ratings are placed above other candidates in thelist of candidates provided to the hiring party. The rating may bedisplayed to the staffing party 106 as a graphical representation. Asshown in FIG. 5 , the rating is displayed as a series of stars. However,any graphical representation may be used.

In one example, the staffing party 106 may select to display any metricsavailable from the staffing talent platforms 104. In another example,the staffing party 106 may limit the display of performance metrics byselecting a date range to display placement information. As shown inFIG. 5 , in one example, the staffing party 106 may enter a “from” dateand at “to” date to display metrics relating to the staffing party 106for that particular period of time. The staffing party 106 may selectone or more of the cumulative results, and the staffing talent platformsmay display detailed job order information associated with thecumulative results. For example, the staffing party 106 may select “#approved” and receive job order and candidate information for eachcandidate that has been approved by the hiring party.

In at least one example, the individual staffing party 106 may haveaccess to their individual performance metrics. While staffing parties106 with administrator permissions may view performance metrics formultiple users and/or departments. Both may view performance metrics fora defined date range.

According to various examples, the staffing talent platforms 104 maygenerate and display accounting information relating to one or morestaffing parties 106. Accounting information may allow one or morestaffing parties 106 to track payment information, for example, feespaid and fees to be paid by the hiring party for placements by thestaffing party. FIG. 6 shows one example of generating and displayingaccounting information. In one example, the accounting information maybe generated by accessing placement tracking information stored on thetalent platform exchange 102 via the staffing application interface 118.The placement tracking information may be stored on the staffing talentplatforms 104 and the hiring talent platforms 108 and provided to thetalent platform exchange 102 via the staffing application interface 118and the hiring application interface 120, respectively.

In one example, the accounting information may include job orderinformation (e.g. req. # and req. title, location, and company), paymentinformation (e.g. net placement fee, projected payment date, and actualpayment date) and placement information (e.g. projected start date,actual start date, and guarantee expiration date). According to oneexample, the guarantee period (or a retention period) is a period oftime when a refund may be issued to the hiring party if the candidate(now employee) is terminated or terminates. For example, the hiringparty pays the placement fee only if the candidate is selected to beplaced by the hiring party and the guarantee period is satisfied. In oneexample, the guarantee expiration date is set at 90 calendar days afterthe actual start date and the projected payment date is set at 100calendar days after the actual start date.

The staffing party may need to review and agree to Terms and Conditionsprovided by the staffing talent platforms 104 before proceeding to viewand match candidates with job order provided by the talent platformexchange 102. In one example, the talent platform exchange may requirethe staffing party to agree to the terms before accessing the job ordersprovided by the talent platform exchange 102. According to embodimentsof the present invention, having each staffing party agree to oneuniform set of terms and conditions avoids the hiring parties to have tosign individual business agreements with each individual staffing party.One or more terms and conditions may be related to the staffing partyand candidates to be provided by the staffing party. Whether thestaffing party has agreed to the terms and conditions may be stored inthe data storage 116. The staffing talent platforms 104 may also providea Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) screen that may provide informationabout the talent platform exchange 102.

Candidate Placement Workflow

One example of candidate placement workflow is described with referenceto method 700 illustrated in FIG. 7 . In block 702, the staffing partyselects a particular job order from the list of job orders, discussedabove, for which the staffing party wants to make a referral. Thestaffing party may then select a candidate from one of the candidatesstored in the staffing talent platforms to match to the particular joborder.

In block 702 a, before the staffing party can submit a candidate to thejob order, the staffing party may be authenticated by the talentplatform exchange. In one example, the talent platform exchange canprovide automatic authentication to the staffing party accessing thetalent platform exchange via the staffing talent platforms 104. In oneexample, the staffing talent platforms 104 can share and/or authenticatestaffing party user data (account information) and login informationwith talent platform exchange 102. It is appreciated that this automaticauthentication can eliminate the need for the staffing party to manuallycreate a talent platform exchange account and separately log-in to thetalent platform exchange.

In block 704, the matched candidate may be submitted to the particularjob order by the staffing party. The staffing talent platform mayprovide for staffing party submittal template including candidate datafields. These fields may include verification of information relating tothe candidate, for example candidate interview, submission of candidatereferences, the candidate's sense of urgency or alignment of thecandidate qualifications and career goals with job specificationsthrough knock-out questions described further below. According toembodiments of the present invention, this submittal template may ensurethat hiring parties receive qualified and interested candidates thathave been properly interviewed and screened.

The information related to the submittal may be sent to the talentplatform exchange 102 and may be provided to the hiring party associatedwith the job order. For every candidate submitted by the staffing party,the talent platform exchange 102 may generate and store in the datastorage a unique ID number and may further create and store in the datastorage a time and date stamp for each submittal candidate submittal andcandidate approval. The talent platform exchange may further associatethe submitted candidate with a particular staffing party, the job orderID number and the hiring party company and may store the association asa data field value in the data storage.

In block 706, the talent platform exchange 102 manages duplicatesubmissions of the same candidate from one or more staffing parties forthe same job order. By centralizing the submittal process, the talentplatform exchange may prevent the hiring party from receiving duplicatesubmittals from multiple staffing parties (or the same party) and avoidconflicts that may arise. In one example, the talent platform exchangeprovides a duplicate submission process that allows the talent platformexchange to accept only the first candidate submittal to a job order. Inone example, if another staffing party submits the same candidate to anyjob order at the same hiring party within the predetermined period oftime (e.g. six months) of the candidate approval date, then thecandidate can be rejected as a duplicate submittal by the talentplatform exchange. In one example, if the submittal is denied by thetalent platform exchange 102, the talent platform exchange 102 maynotify the staffing party of the duplicate submission.

In block 708, in one example, if the submittal is approved by the talentplatform exchange, the submitted candidate is provided to the talentplatform exchange. The talent platform exchange notifies that hiringparty, via the hiring talent platform, that a submission has been madefor a job order. The hiring party may review the submission withinhiring party platform and determine whether the hiring party would liketo proceed with interviewing the candidate. If the hiring party agreesto proceed, the hiring party notifies the talent platform exchange thatthe candidate is approved.

In one example, at the time of submittal the talent platform exchangeprovides a subset of the hiring party's details to the staffing party(such as company name, position location, placement fee or “out tobid”), concealing, for example, the hiring party's contact name andcontact information, until the hiring party expresses interest in thecandidate submitted by the staffing party. In at least one example, ifthe submittal is denied in the duplicate submittal process (block 706),or the hiring party does not approve the candidate (block 708), thestaffing party does not receive hiring party information.

In block 710, the talent platform exchange may notify the staffing partythat the candidate has been approved by the hiring party. FIG. 8 showsone example of the notification to the staffing party. In one example,at the time of submittal the talent platform exchange provides a subsetof the staffing party's details to the hiring party (such as candidate'sfirst name), concealing the rest of the candidate's contact informationand the staffing party information until the hiring party has expressedinterest in the candidate. In at least one example, if the hiring partyapproves the candidate (block 708), talent platform exchange may releasethe hiring party the rest of the concealed information, such as, forexample the candidate's last name, recruiter name, recruiter company andrecruiter contact information.

In one example, this method of concealing some of the information toboth the staffing and the hiring parties prevents the parties fromexcluding the talent platform exchange out of the placement processes.For example, it may prevent the hiring party from contacting thecandidate directly without working with the staffing party and it mayalso prevent the staffing party from contacting the hiring partydirectly and avoiding the duplication process.

In one example, the talent platform exchange 102 may provide a candidatemanagement interface to the staffing agent 106. For example, thestaffing talent platforms 104 may display for the submitted candidate alist of one or more activities associated with that candidate. Theactivities may include historic information associated with placement ofthe candidate, or tasks that have been completed or may need to beperformed by the staffing party to complete the placement of thecandidate. For example, as shown in FIG. 9 , the list of activitiesdisplayed includes the date the candidate was submitted, the date thecandidate's resume was sent to the hiring party, the date the interviewwas scheduled and the tasks may include follow up reminders, andreminders to contact the hiring party to schedule an interview.

According to at least one example, if a candidate is approved by thehiring party, then the hiring party must honor the referral for thestaffing party for a predetermined and agreed upon period of time (e.g.six months) from the approval date. It is appreciated that, by honoringthe first candidate submitted to the hiring party for the predeterminedperiod of time, the talent platform exchange may create a sense ofurgency and competition among staffing parties. This sense of urgencyand competition may increase the speed of candidate submittals by thestaffing party to the posted job orders. In one example, the hiringparty is not notified or is aware of duplicate submittals.

In at least one example, the talent platform exchange communicates withthe staffing party, via the staffing talent platform through differentstages of the placement process. Some of the communications may includefeedback on candidate submittals, at the point of submission, approval,denial, interview, placement and start. Other information, for examplecandidate information, may be provided in these communications.Communication channels may take a number of forms, for example, email,notification windows, or text messages.

For example, if the candidate was successfully submitted for a job orderthe talent platform exchange may generate and send an email message tothe staffing party to notify the staffing party of an acceptedsubmission. In another example, if the submitted candidate is aduplicate as described above, the talent platform exchange may display anotification window alerting, the staffing party of the duplicatesubmittal. Furthermore, the staffing talent platform may allow for thestaffing party to communicate with the candidate to let the candidateknow the hiring parties the candidate was submitted.

In block 712, the hiring party may interview the candidate and if thecandidate is placed, the hiring party may notify the talent platformexchange of the placement. The talent platform exchange may provide anotification to the staffing party and may provide for the staffingparty to contact customer service of talent platform exchange in orderto process a payment fee, further changing the candidate status to“placed” or “hired”. In one example, the hiring party may pay the feeonly if the candidate is hired. In another example, if the hiring partycloses the job order but subsequently hires the candidate in apredetermined time period (for example 6 months) the hiring party paysthe placement fee to the talent platform exchange.

Hiring Party Platform

As described above with regard to the staffing talent platforms, thetalent platform exchange interface may be provided within the hiringtalent platform. FIG. 10 shows one example of the hiring talentplatforms 108 used by the hiring party 110. The hiring talent platforms108 may provide various interfaces for the hiring party. For example, a“Req” interface to enter and edit job order information, a candidateinterface to manage interview and placement of candidates, a calendarinterface for management of hiring party schedule and a reportsinterface for visually displaying job order and placement reports.

The hiring talent platforms 108 may display job orders placed by aparticular hiring party, for example within “My Open Reqs” section ofthe hiring talent platforms 108. The hiring party 110 may create new joborder or manage existing open job orders within this section of thehiring talent platforms 108. By selecting the individual job order thehiring talent platform may display details of the selected job order,for example by displaying a “Job Req Detail” page. The hiring party 110may view or edit details displayed on the “Job Req Detail” page.

According to various examples, the hiring talent platforms 108 mayprovide an intergraded talent platform exchange interface to accessaspects and functions provided the talent platform exchange 102. Asshown in FIG. 10 , the talent platform exchange interface within thehiring talent platforms 108 is presented as an “XpressHire Home” icon.In one example, by clicking the “XpressHire Home” icon, the hiring party110 may access the talent platform exchange 102 via the hiringapplication interface 120. In one embodiment, the aspects and functionsof the talent platform exchange 102 are displayed in another interface,for example, by opening a separate window. In another embodiment,aspects and functions of the talent platform exchange 102 are displayedwithin the hiring talent platforms 108, for example as one or more userselectable icons.

FIG. 11 shows one example of the talent platform exchange interfacedisplayed separately allowing the hiring party to access the aspect andfunctions of the talent platform exchange 102. In various examples, thehiring talent platforms 108 may generate and display performance metricsrelating to hiring parties. This metric information may provide thehiring parties with detailed and summary activity reports andperformance metrics in real-time. FIG. 12 shows one example ofgenerating and displaying performance metrics for the hiring party. Inone example, the performance metrics may be generated by accessingperformance information stored on the talent platform exchange 102 viathe hiring application interface 120. The performance information may bestored on the hiring talent platforms 108 as performance information isgenerated by the hiring party 110 and provided to the talent platformexchange 102 via the hiring application interface 120 and the staffinginterface 104, respectively.

In at least one example, performance metrics may be based on hiringparty's job order and candidate placement information, such as thenumber of job orders (i.e. “positions”), number of candidates placed byhiring party (i.e. “hired”), as well as other information. The hiringtalent platforms 108 may further display statistical analysis associatedwith the placement information, for example average placement values. Inone example, the statistical analysis may calculate the average numberof days to fill open job orders (i.e. “avg. days to fill”) and theaverage fee paid by the hiring party (i.e. “avg. fee). As shown in FIG.11 , both the placement information and the statistical analysis may bedisplayed as a chart, allowing the hiring party to compare theinformation generated.

In one example, the hiring party 110 may select to display any metricsavailable from the hiring talent platforms 108. In another example, thehiring party 110 may limit the display of performance metrics byselecting a date range to display placement information. As shown inFIG. 11 , in one example, the hiring party 110 may enter a “from” dateand at “to” date to display metrics relating to the hiring party 110 forthat particular period of time. The hiring party 110 may select one ormore of the average results, and the staffing talent platforms maydisplay detailed information associated with the average results.Details may include name of candidate, date hired, department, title,location, compensation, fee, and employee status, as well as othercandidate and job order information.

In at least one example, the individual hiring party 110 may have accessto their individual performance metrics. While hiring parties 110 withadministrator permissions may view performance metrics for multiplehiring parties and/or departments within the hiring party organization.Both may view performance metrics for a defined date range.

According to various examples, the hiring talent platforms 108 maygenerate and display accounting information relating to one or morehiring parties 110. Accounting information may allow one or more hiringparties 110 to track payment information, for example, fees paid andfees to be paid by the hiring party for placements by the staffingparty. FIG. 12 shows one example of generating and displaying accountinginformation for a hiring party. In one example, the accountinginformation may be generated by accessing placement tracking informationstored on the talent platform exchange 102 via the hiring applicationinterface 120. The placement tracking information may be stored on thehiring talent platforms 108 and the staffing talent platforms 104 andprovided to the talent platform exchange 102 via the hiring applicationinterface 120 and the staffing application interface 118, respectively.

In one example, the accounting information may include job placementinformation (e.g. req. # and req. title, candidate name and location),payment information (e.g. placement fee, payment due date, and actualpayment date) and placement information (e.g. projected start date,actual start date, and guarantee expiration date). As described abovewith reference to FIG. 11 , the hiring party may select a date range todisplay accounting information. In addition, the hiring party maydisplay individual accounting information for that particular party. Ifthe hiring party has administrative permissions, the hiring party mayaccess performance metrics for multiple hiring parties and/ordepartments within the hiring party organization.

The hiring party may need to review and agree to terms and conditionsprovided by the hiring talent platforms 108 before proceeding to viewand match candidates with job order provided by the talent platformexchange 102. One or more terms and conditions may be related to thehiring party and/or candidates to be provided by the staffing party.Whether the hiring party has agreed to the terms and conditions may bestored in the data storage 116. The hiring talent platforms 108 may alsoprovide a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) window that may provideinformation about the talent platform exchange 102.

Job Order and Candidate Management Workflow

One example of job order workflow is described with reference to method1300 illustrated in FIG. 13 . In block 1302, the hiring party may createa job order within the hiring talent platforms 108 which the hiringtalent platform posts to the talent platform exchange. In one example,the hiring party can select to post a new job order within the hiringparty platform. In one example, the hiring party may view details ofpreviously posted job orders by clicking the “Requisition ID #” linkwithin the My Open Reqs section, which may open a new window with theJob Req Detail page. Within the Job Req Detail page, the hiring partycan view the posting options page, in one example by selecting “PostingOptions” on the Job Req Detail page.

Before posting a job order to the talent platform exchange, the hiringparty may need to agree to the Terms and Conditions associated with thetalent platform exchange. In one example, the talent platform exchangemay require the hiring party to agree to the Terms and Conditions beforeaccessing the candidates provided by the talent platform exchange 102.According to embodiments of the present invention, having each hiringparty agree to one uniform set of Terms and Conditions avoids thestaffing parties to have to sign individual business agreements witheach individual hiring party.

In block 1304, before a job can be posted to the talent platformexchange, the hiring party may need to be authenticated by the talentplatform exchange. In one example, the talent platform exchange canprovide automatic authentication to the hiring party accessing thetalent platform exchange via the hiring talent platforms 108. In oneexample, the hiring talent platforms 108 can share and/or authenticatehiring party user data (account information) and login information withtalent platform exchange 102. It is appreciated that this automaticauthentication can eliminate the need for the hiring party to manuallycreate a talent platform exchange account and separately log-in to thetalent platform exchange.

The talent platform exchange may provide for the hiring party to enterthe job order information into a standardized job order form. Using sucha form may provide for a common standard of job orders provided forstaffing parties, making it easier for them to review the providedinformation. In one example, the talent platform exchange may allow thehiring party to post the job order on a placement fee basis or a “out tobid” basis. The placement fee basis allows the hiring party to set a onefee for any staffing party submitting candidates. Alternatively, the“out to bid” basis allows the staffing parties to bid a placement feefor each submitted candidate.

The talent platform exchange receiving the new job order may time/datestamp each job order and may create a job order ID number for each joborder submitted by the hiring party 110. The talent platform exchangemay additionally manage the period of time the job order may be activeon the talent platform exchange 102. If the job order is active, one ormore staffing parties may submit candidates for the active job ordersand the job orders may be provided to the staffing party as part of thesearch features. If the active period of time for the job order isexceeded, the talent platform exchange may change the job order statusto inactive. In one example, inactive job orders are not displayed tothe staffing parties. For example, the posted job orders may be activefor sixty calendar days.

As described above with reference to the candidate placement workflowdescribed with reference to FIG. 7 , the talent platform exchange maynot reveal the hiring party contact name or contact information to thestaffing party until the hiring party has expressed interest in thecandidate. Therefore, talent platform exchange may process the postedjob orders and conceal the hiring party information from the job ordersviewed by the staffing party.

In one example, talent platform exchange 102 may not allow the hiringparty 110 to modify or update a job order after the hiring party hasposted the job order to the talent platform exchange 102. According toone example, the talent platform exchange 102 may prompt for the hiringparty to update job orders after a predetermined period of time (e.g.every 30 days). Furthermore, hiring parties updating job orders morefrequently than the predetermined period of time may receive a highervolume of candidate submittals. In some examples, a hiring party 110desiring to make a material change to a job order may need to close thepreviously posted job order and post a new (i.e. updated) job order. Byclosing the previously posted job order, the talent platform exchange102 may insure accurate information presented to the staffing party.

Job orders posted to the talent platform exchange 102 may displayed tothe staffing parties in the staffing talent platforms 104 who may thensubmit candidates to those open job orders, as discussed above. In block1306, the hiring party may receive a notification from talent platformexchange that a submittal from the staffing party to the job order wasreceived by the talent platform exchange 102.

In block 1308, the hiring party can then review submitted candidatesfrom various staffing parties 106. The hiring party 110 can access thesubmittals within the hiring talent platforms 108, in one example byselecting a candidate interface provided by the talent platform exchange102. For example, as shown in FIG. 10 by clicking on the“XpressHire-Candidates” link in the Recruitment Services folder withinthe My Links section.

In one example, the candidate interface may be displayed in a separatewindow. FIG. 14 shows one example of the candidate interface. Thecandidates submitted by the various staffing parties may be displayed asa chart and may be organized by job order ID number. The chart may alsodisplay the job order title, job location, number of new candidatessubmitted for the job order, and number of total candidates submitted.In one example, new candidates are those submitted by the staffingparties but not yet reviewed by the hiring party. In this candidateinterface, the hiring party may be able to remove or cancel a job order.

The hiring party 110 may view the detailed list of submitted candidatesfor each job order. For example, as shown in FIG. 14 the detailedcandidate list can be displayed by selecting the “#” in the “totalcandidates” column FIG. 15 shows one example of a detailed candidatelist. The details of each candidate may be displayed in the form of thesubmittal template, discussed above. The submittal template may includecandidate information such as, a profile summary, experience summary,education summary, motivating factors, responses to “knock-out”questions, availability, interest level and resume. As described above,the talent platform exchange conceals some of the candidate and staffingparty information, but may also reveal the recruiter rating, and thecandidate's first name. The information revealed may provide enoughinformation for the hiring party to review and make a decision regardingapproval of the candidate.

In one example, the candidates can be arranged according to recruiterrating, such as from high recruiter rating to low recruiter rating.According to one embodiment, hiring parties are more likely to selectcandidates submitted by staffing parties with higher ratings,encouraging staffing parties to improve ratings in order to influencehiring party decisions.

According to embodiments of the present invention, the hiring talentplatform may provide for the hiring parties 110 to limit the volume ofresumes received for any given job order. The hiring parties will beable to manage the volume and velocity of candidate submittals bysetting “knock-out” answer limiters. In one example, “knock-out” answerlimiters include a series of prompts set out to the staffing party thatgo to elements of the job order, such as specific types of skills neededfor the job, geographical limiters, travel limiters, salary limiters, aswell as other limiters. The hiring party may change the limiters toeither broaden or narrow the candidate pool. The hiring party 110 mayfurther change these limiters in anticipation (or reaction) to thecandidate submittal activity. In addition, the hiring party may placethe position “on hold” to prevent submittals from the staffing parties106, by preventing the job orders from appearing in the staffing party'ssearch results, as described above with reference to active job orders.

According to various examples, the hiring talent platform can assigncandidates within the candidate listing a status, based on the hiringparty's interest in the candidate. For example, the status can be“waiting,” “interested” or “not interested.” In one example, the statusof “waiting” is associated with the candidate until the hiring partyeither selects that the hiring party is “interested” or “not interested”in the candidate. According to various examples, if the hiring partyindicates “not interested” in the candidate, then the candidate isremoved from the candidate list. The status change can be provided tothe talent platform exchange and stored in the data storage 116.

If the hiring party 110 indicates that they are “interested” in thecandidate, the information concealed by the talent platform exchange 102may be transmitted from the talent platform exchange 102 to the hiringtalent platform 108 and may populate the data fields associated with thecandidate. In one example, this concealed information associated withthis candidate can also be stored in the hiring talent platform 108.

Staffing party 106 can schedule an interview and hiring party 110 canmake a hiring decision. According to one example, the talent exchange102 may provide the hiring party 110 with feedback designed to assistthe hiring party with placement. For example, if the hiring party ishaving difficulty filling a position through the talent platformexchange 102, the feedback may suggest for the hiring party to broadenthe hiring limitations, increase the placement fee, shorten theguarantee period or strengthen the value proposition (increasecompensation, improve learning curve, etc). In this example, the hiringparty implements the feedback by making modification to the job order.The talent exchange may determine that the job order has been listed inthe talent platform exchange for a particular period of time, andgenerate feedback when the period of time exceeds a threshold (e.g.three months). In one example, the feedback is presented to the hiringparty 110 by the talent exchange 102 as a series of prompts, eachsuggesting a different course of action.

If the candidate is hired or placed, the hiring party can finalize offerinformation and may provide offer information to the talent exchange. Inone example, offer information includes start date, salary, andguarantee or provisional period as well as other offer information. Thisinformation can be stored in the data storage 116 of the talent platformexchange 102.

In block 1312, the talent platform exchange can start the invoicingprocess, which can include steps of supplying placement forms, resolvingdiscrepancies, verifying candidate start and sending the invoice to thehiring party. First, in block 1314, the talent platform exchange mayprompt the hiring party to change candidate status. In one example,talent platform exchange emails a placement form to the staffing partyupon a candidate status change to “hired” or “placed” within the hiringtalent platform. Talent exchange then notifies the staffing party of theupdate and requests to complete and return the placement form. In oneexample, the placement form may include a series of prompts provided bythe talent platform exchange 102 within the staffing talent platform 104regarding the negotiated terms of employment, such as salary and startdate information. Customer service 114 may follow-up if the placementform is not returned within a predetermined period of time (e.g. 24hours). Customer service 114 can verify and resolve any discrepanciesbetween the offer information provided by the hiring party andinformation provided in the placement form and can contact the partiesinvolved including the hiring party, the staffing party and thecandidate.

In block 1316, customer service 114 can contact the staffing partyand/or the candidate prior to the projected start date prior to theprojected start date (e.g. one week), to validate the start date andthat the candidate has given notice to previous employer. Customerservice 114 can also verify and resolve any discrepancies and cancontact the parties involved, including the hiring party, the staffingparty and the candidate. On the projected start date, customer service114 can contact the hiring party, staffing party and/or the candidate toverify that the candidate has actually started at the new employer andcan verify invoice/billing contact information. Independent verificationof start date by the customer service ensures that both the hiringparties and the staffing parties uphold the conditions imposed on themby the talent platform exchange, for example, that the placement of thecandidate is accurately represented.

In block 1318, if the candidate has started employment, then talentplatform exchange can send an invoice to the new employer. Customerservice 114 can verify and update the actual start date stored in thedata storage 116 of the talent platform exchange 102 upon receivinghiring party verification. The guarantee expiration date and theprojected payment date can also be updated once the actual start datehas been verified and/or revised by customer service. Customer service114 can verify and resolve any discrepancies and can contact the partiesinvolved including the hiring party, staffing party and candidate.

According to one embodiment, the fee distribution model can include apercentage of placement fee distributed to all of the involved parties.The placement fee may be set by the hiring party as a percentage for thecandidate's starting annual salary. Alternatively, the hiring party maychoose to put the job order “out to bid,” allowing the staffing party tosubmit qualified candidates with corresponding bids (or placement fees).In either scenario, the placement fee may be due to the staffing partyupon candidate hire. In one example, the placement fee is set to 20% ofthe candidate's first year annual salary. According to one example of adistribution model, the staffing party fee is distributed 75% of theplacement fee, the staffing talent platforms and the hiring talentplatform providers (ATS partners) each receiving a percentage of the fee(e.g. 7.5%), and the talent platform exchange receiving anotherpercentage (e.g. 10%). However, it should be appreciated that other feedistribution models and placement fees can be used or negotiated withthe talent platform exchange 102.

Once the payment of the placement fee has been received from the hiringparty and the guarantee period has been satisfied (for example, 90calendar days from start date), then talent platform exchange canprocess the payment to the staffing party, and the ATS partners involvedin the transaction. In one example, the partner ATS payments can bedistributed within a predetermined period of time (e.g. 10 calendardays) after the full payment has been received and guarantee period hasbeen satisfied.

Other Features and Implementations

According to various aspects of the present invention, the talentplatform exchange may include one or more additional features andfunctionality as discussed in more detail below. Such features may beimplemented in addition to any other feature discussed herein, in anycombination with one or more other features.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a bidding featuremay be provided that allows employers to establish a placement fee foreach job posting by entering a percentage of an annual salary of the jobposting for a placement fee. In one embodiment, the player may elect tohave the job posting “open to bid”. To this end, the talent platformexchange may include a control that permits the employer to designate aparticular job entry as being open for bid.

In the event that the employer has elected to have the posting “open tobid”, agents may submit talent at a higher or lower placement feepercentage and have an opportunity to price their candidates. Accordingto one aspect of the present invention, it is appreciated that thisfeature reverses the manner in which candidates are traditionallypriced, benefiting both parties.

In the event that the employer is “not open to bid”, the talent platformexchange, in one embodiment, does not allow the agent to submit a talentat a different percentage. If the agent submits a talent under a “notopen to bid” position, then the placement fee percentage may beestablished by the employer. In another implementation, theemployer/recruiter and the agency/agent is permitted to enter a desiredplacement fee percentage (e.g., from a drop down menu control) inincrements of 1%. For instance, the placement fee percentage may beprovided within a range from 10%-35%.

According to one embodiment, recruiters/employers may be permitted toaccess the bidding feature on a posting confirmation page. In the caseof agents/agencies, they may be permitted to view the placement fee andrespond to a bid on a candidate submission page.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a conversationfeature may be provided that allows the recruiter to communicate with anagent regarding a specific candidate that has been submitted within theagent's talent platform. Because, according to one embodiment, a talentplatform exchange is provided that allows multiple parties to submit inplace candidates, a communication system that permits various parties tocontact one another may be beneficial.

In one embodiment, the conversation feature allows users to updateposition status and candidate status. These status changes provide thetalent platform exchange with intelligent data that influences signalsrelative to specific users and agencies/employers. In one embodiment,the recruiter is provided access to the conversation feature bypermitting the recruiter to navigate to a list of submitted candidates.In one embodiment, the actual names of the candidates may be blinded tothe recruiter. This may be accomplished, for example, by not permittingthe recruiter to see (e.g., by not displaying or providing) last namesof candidates or any other or contact information. Once a recruiterinitiates a conversation with an agent regarding a specific candidate,then the agent's contact info may be revealed by the talent platformexchange and a conversation chat may ensue between the recruiter and thecandidate. To this end, the system may include a chat function and maybe capable of storing identification information that allows bothparties to establish a chat connection.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a capability maybe provided that allows a user to enter billing information into atalent platform exchange. For example, an agent who makes the placementwill be responsible to collect, input and update the billing/invoiceinformation into a talent platform exchange form. When complete, theagent will submit the information to the talent platform exchange. If anupdate to placement information occurs, the talent platform exchange maybe required to reissue an invoice.

According to one embodiment, one or more of the following input fieldsmay be included on a placement form that is completed by a user (e.g.,one who makes a placement).

-   -   employer name    -   invoice address, city, state zip    -   invoice contact person    -   invoice contact email    -   invoice contact direct phone #    -   purchase order # (if applicable)    -   talent name    -   talent start date    -   talent's hiring manager name    -   talent's title with employer    -   talent's department with employer    -   talent's location (city, state)    -   talent's annual starting salary    -   talent's placement fee percentage

According to one embodiment, invoices generated by the talent platformexchange correspond and are designed in such a manner that reflects thepartners involved in the placement. For example, the employer will beexpecting an invoice from their white-labeled Talent Platform (e.g., theKenexa Exchange powered by a talent platform exchange) and not just froman intermediary system that provides an exchange service. In addition,an agency may be expecting payment from their white labeled TalentPlatform (e.g., the Bullhorn Exchange powered by a talent platformexchange) and not just from an intermediary system that provides anexchange service.

According to another embodiment, an agent is responsible to maintaincontact with the talent and the employer once a placement occurs. In oneimplementation, the agent validates one or more of the followingresponsibilities within the talent platform exchange:

-   -   discover payment approval process    -   start date    -   verify placement fee (annual salary and placement fee        percentage)    -   verify payment terms    -   verify the invoice was received by the employer    -   verify employer payment status

In one embodiment, the agent is responsible for inputting and updatingcollections-related activities and notes into the talent platformexchange. Invoice/payment status updates may include, for example:

-   -   the date that the invoice has been sent by the talent platform        exchange to an employer    -   verification that the payment has been received by a talent        platform exchange    -   verification that the payment has cleared    -   the date that the talent platform exchange is scheduled to issue        payment to an agency    -   the date that the talent platform exchange has sent payment to        the agency

In one implementation, collections customer support calls (e.g., tier 1support) may be directed to and managed by the customer servicerepresentatives (CSRs) of a particular talent platform. In oneembodiment, the talent platform exchange may provide the CSR withnecessary visibility and the ability to input information into anadministrative interface of the talent platform exchange. The TalentPlatform CSRs may be provided an ability to communicate transactioninformation. In another embodiment, the talent platform exchangecollections department may drive the collections process and generateany associated data (e.g., messages, letters, etc.). The Talent PlatformCSR may be provide an ability to escalate an issue to the talentplatform exchange collections department if the CSR is unable to resolveand document the results and/or escalation of issue within the talentplatform exchange administrative interface.

Common issues that the Talent Platform CSRs will handle may include, forexample:

-   -   verify payment received by talent platform exchange from        employer    -   verify disbursement dates to agency    -   update and/or resend invoice to employer        Notably, collections issues may be worked by talent platform        personnel, while underlying collections operations are supported        by the talent exchange platform.

Regarding posting visibility, in one embodiment, agents may receiveemployer postings through a talent platform exchange in several ways. Inone implementation, recommended postings are selectively pushed to eachagent as dictated by talent platform exchange signals. According tovarious embodiments:

-   -   recommended postings are not filtered by any criteria specified        by an agent.    -   recommended postings are ranked and sorted by the talent        platform exchange signals.    -   recommended postings will be truncated and grouped within the        results list.    -   new results are pushed to agents hourly.    -   all search postings are shown on a webpage.

In another implementation, postings may be selectively pulled from thetalent platform exchange using search agents. In one implementation, anagent is provided an ability (e.g., within an interface) to create, editand save multiple search agents within the talent platform exchange. Theagents then pull any matching search results.

-   -   search postings are filtered by criteria specified by an agent.    -   search postings are ranked and sorted by the talent platform        exchange signals.    -   search postings will be truncated and grouped within the results        list.    -   new results are pushed to agents hourly.    -   all search postings are shown on a webpage

In one example implementation, the agent is provided the ability toreview the posting results and import selected postings to their talentplatform. Postings may be updated by the employer and refreshed withinthe posting results list. In one implementation, talent platformexchange functionality will reside and be hosted within the talentplatform exchange domain as well as a partner's domain. As a result, thetalent platform exchange may be accessed by users through variousintegration points within their talent platform.

In one implementation, a talent platform exchange requires SSL/TLS forencryption. Talent platform exchange API calls may originate from atalent platform (e.g., staffing talent platforms, hiring talentplatforms). Authentication may be completed in one of the followingmanners:

-   -   HTTP basic/digest authentication over SSL which includes        explicit account creation in the talent platform exchange.        However, this does not necessarily need to involve the user.    -   HTTP basic authentication over SSL with a talent platform        certificate on the client side.    -   Custom public/private key scheme where a talent platform        exchange holds public key for each talent platform. In one        implementation, the talent platform sends a signed user id in        each request which the talent platform exchange can verify to be        legitimate.

Authorization may take place at one or all of the followingpoints—organization level authorization, per-user authorization.According to one aspect of the present invention, authorization andaccess control may be configured to prevent agency users frominteracting with any employer activities and vice versa. Also, in oneimplementation, an employer is not able to view talent's contact detailsuntil a predefined action is taken (e.g., thereby ensuring thatplacements get the proper credit, and the placements are processedthrough the talent exchange).

According to yet another aspect, a talent platform exchange may beadapted to score postings based on a variety of attributes (or signals)with a defined set of weights assigned to each signal. Results ofrecommended postings and search postings are then sorted and displayedto a user in descending order by score. This capability allows theagent/agency or recruiter/employer to focus on the highest rankedmaterial because they have the confidence that talent platform exchangehas already done a thorough filtering of the material, and the talentexchange has determined the most appropriate postings. This capabilitysaves time and displays the most appropriate postings or candidates inthe foreground.

In one embodiment, a talent platform exchange provides appropriate andtargeted job postings to an agent/agencies based on historical successand activity signals. In another implementation, the talent platformexchange provides appropriate and targeted candidate submissions forrecruiters/employers based on historical success and activity signals.In yet another implementation, the talent platform exchange includesmultiple signal weight sets at the same time and be able to track thesuccess/failure of the set over the course of the search resultslifecycle. The signal weight sets may be used for a set amount of timebefore the next generation is determined.

According to one implementation, the talent platform exchange may haveone or more types of signals, such as, Intrinsic, Extrinsic, Contextualand Learned signals according to the following examples:

Intrinsic signals—in one example, intrinsic signals are calculatedsolely as properties of the Position Profile or the Candidate Profile.

Intrinsic Scoring for Agencies—Evaluation of Postings

-   -   historical performance for filling positions    -   salary    -   relocation, sponsoring out of country work    -   start date/urgency    -   hiring party attention, how active is the recruiter responding        to submissions

Intrinsic Scoring for Employers—Evaluation of Talent

-   -   historical performance for generating positions/generating fees    -   experience    -   interview/background check    -   keyword match of search    -   maximum level of education of candidate versus position    -   resume matching service    -   keyword match of candidate skills and position

Extrinsic Signals—cannot be calculated until the search is performed asthe value of the signal is relative to the entity performing the search.Extrinsic scoring may be determined for an agency, employer or otherentity. For instance:

Extrinsic Scoring for Agencies—evaluation of postings may be performedusing one or more of the following criteria:

-   -   location    -   competition (# of other resumes already submitted via talent        platform exchange)    -   agent specialty    -   prior fills w/company, similar SIC codes    -   company prior ratios

Extrinsic Scoring for Employers—evaluation of talent may be performedusing one or more of the following criteria:

-   -   location    -   prior fills at company, similar SIC codes    -   agent prior ratios, success rate    -   keyword match of resume

Contextual signals—a comparison of an attribute(s) of a position or arecruiter versus an attribute(s) of a candidate or an agent or a searchcriteria. Contextual signals may be determined for an agency, employeror other entity. For instance:

Contextual Scoring for Agencies—Evaluation of Postings

-   -   location of position, agent, criteria    -   salary desired versus salary of position    -   previous titles versus title of position    -   keyword match of search criteria “skills” and position

Contextual Scoring for Employers—Evaluation of Talent

-   -   location of candidate versus position versus offers relocation    -   seniority/years of experience of candidate versus position    -   previous titles versus title of position

Learned signals—may be calculated on the basis of information of boththe position/profile, the agent/recruiter and agency/employer andsubsequent outcomes.

Learned Scoring for Agencies—Evaluation of Postings

-   -   location    -   competition (# of other resumes already submitted via a talent        platform exchange)    -   agent specialty    -   prior fills w/company, similar SIC codes    -   company prior ratios

Learned Scoring for Employers—Evaluation of Postings

-   -   location    -   prior fills at company, similar SIC codes    -   agent prior ratios, success rate

Technical Elements

-   -   Intrinsic features are normalized in advance.    -   Extrinsic features are calculated at search time but are        normalized using mean/standard deviation process.    -   Signals on submission are calculated at submission time.    -   Signals on postings may be calculated at search time via custom        elastic search function as talent platform exchange requires        relevant data.        It should be appreciated that one or more signals may be used to        determine the quality of postings and talent from        agent/recruiter and agency/employer, and may be used to perform        a matching process between them.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a talent platformexchange may include a function that provides agents with the ability tosearch for talent platform exchange job orders. For instance, a joborder hunt function may permit a user to receive a number of recommendedjobs without the need for searching, based on one or more of the signalsdetermined above.

In one implementation, a user may be permitted to access the talentplatform exchange without having to create an account and/or log in totalent platform exchange separately (e.g., through the use of an ATS).In one embodiment, an ATS system may include a control that permits alaunching of a talent exchange interface through which the user maylocate and/or receive job orders. Through the interface, a user may bepresented a number of navigation and searching options, in addition tobeing able to view performance metrics, perform accounting functions,among other options.

According to one embodiment, the user may be permitted to search for jobrequirements that matches manually entered data (e.g., keywords enteredby a user). When the user enters a search screen, the interface maydisplay automatically a list of recommended jobs, without the need for asearch entry, based on one or more of the various signals discussedabove. As words are entered by the user (e.g., staffing party) withinthe search form, results may be narrowed down to a filtered list.According to one embodiment, the talent platform exchange may not permitthe user to create a broad search, but may restrict searching based onthe capability, performance, and specialization of the particular user.

According to one implementation, a staffing party or other user typemust assent to the terms and conditions before accessing search resultsto ensure that the user agrees to the terms and conditions of theplacement. The staffing party or other user type may be permitted tosave searches and import job requirements to their ATS system.

As discussed, the user may be permitted to access performance metricsregarding their placements, which can be used to evaluate placementperformance. For instance, a staffing party may be permitted to accesstheir performance metrics for a defined date range. An administrator maybe provided tools to view performance of one or more users, such asaccessing performance metrics of multiple users for a defined daterange, accessing performance metrics of multiple departments for adefined date range, among other functions.

Further, the talent platform exchange may be capable of determining aperformance score or rating for a particular user (e.g., a staffingparty). In one embodiment, a staffing party may be rated based on one ormore parameters, including the volume of submittals, the speed ofsubmittals, candidate submittals that are approved versus rejected bythe hiring party (e.g., by sourcing and matching). Further, a staffingparty rating may be based on candidate approvals that result inplacements (e.g., relationships, negotiations and the close). Toaccomplish this, data that determines staffing party performance may bepulled from an ATS system, and may be used alone or in combination withdata stored by the talent platform exchange.

In another implementation, a staffing party is provided the capabilityof viewing talent platform exchange job requirements within the normalworkflow for the staffing party. In one implementation, summaryinformation for job listings may be retrieved from hiring party using anAPI (e.g., using XML). Such information may be updated in real time toreflect the status of particular job requisition/job requirements, andmay show details that indicate whether the job has been closed orcancelled. In one implementation, the talent platform exchange providesthe staffing part with the hiring party's name and the positionlocation, but the hiring party's contact name and information is notdisclosed until the hiring party expresses interest in the candidate.

In one example implementation, a staffing party is permitted to submitcandidates to the talent platform exchange within a normal workflowwhile working within an ATS. In one embodiment, the talent platformexchange detects and rejects duplicate candidates submitted, as propercredit must be determined for a particular placement. In one embodiment,the talent platform exchange sends a system message to a submittingparty if the same candidate has been submitted for the same jobrequirement. In another embodiment, the talent platform exchangedetermines message if the candidate has previously been submitted forany job requirement across the enterprise and it is less than apredefined period (e.g., 6 months) from the approval date.

In another embodiment, the talent platform exchange determines that astaffing party “owns” a particular candidate submittal, and permits thestaffing party to submit the same candidate to other job requisitions.In one implementation, the candidate is considered “owned” by thestaffing party for a predefined period (e.g., 6 months) from a talentplatform exchange candidate approval date (e.g., a point at which thecandidate record is created in the talent platform exchange).

According to one embodiment, the talent platform exchange captures datapulled from the staffing party during a candidate submittal process. Thetalent platform exchange may provide the hiring party with thecandidate's first name at the time of submittal. In one embodiment, thetalent platform exchange discloses a candidate's last name, recruitername, recruiter company and recruiter contact information when hiringparty has expressed interest in the candidate.

In one implementation, the talent platform exchange may perform severalfunctions to ensure that candidates may be uniquely identified andtracked within the talent platform exchange system. For instance, thetalent platform exchange may create a unique identifier for a particularcandidate within a database. Such an identifier may also be stored,tracked and used by various systems to identify the candidate within thedistributed system. The talent platform exchange may time/date stampeach candidate submittal and candidate approval and associate thatcandidate with the staffing party. Further, the talent platform exchangemay “hard code” the talent platform exchange candidate submittals withtalent platform exchange as the source of the candidate within thehiring party ATS. Further, the talent platform exchange may providecommunication functions that allow feedback on candidate submittalsthrough talent platform exchange system messages (e.g., via messages,email, etc.).

Further, hiring parties may be permitted to perform similar functions tostaffing parties, such as being required to assenting to terms andconditions, observing and reporting on performance metrics, performaccounting functions, among others. For instance, with regard toperformance metrics, a hiring party may review the number of open jobrequisitions, number of hires for a particular date range, view astatistic of the “average days to fill” which is a performance measureof job placement, among other functions. For example, “average days tofill” may be calculated with the following formula: For n closed jobrequisitions in a specified period, (Date requisition was closed—Daterequisition was open)/n.

Hiring parties may also be permitted to calculate an average fee for aplacement. For example, the average fee may be calculated using thefollowing formula: (total fees of all placements within a periodrange)/(total number of placements). Hiring parties may also be able toreview the history of job requisitions over particular date ranges,along with their information. For instance, a history of jobrequisitions may be displayed in reverse chronological order, and may besortable, ascending and descending, by the fields in view. The historymay include a name, date hired (if closed), department, title, location,compensation, fee and status.

The hiring party may be provided access to an interface that permits thehiring party to access current talent platform exchange requisitionswithin a current workflow. For instance, the interface my include anumber of fields including requisition id, title, location, number ofnew candidates not yet reviewed, total candidates for requisition, amongothers. The hiring party may also have an interface that permits thehiring party to create a job requisition/requirement (e.g., job order).Such an interface may include one or more of the following parameters:job title, job industry, skill(s), location, company, salary and/or fee.A hiring party may also be capable of indicating, within the interfaceand updating within the talent platform exchange, the status of aparticular candidate (e.g., by placing a particular candidate on a “notinterested” list of candidates).

Regarding performance data for hiring parties (HPs), one or more of thefollowing may be calculated and displayed by the hiring platformexchange:

-   -   Total # of HPs    -   Total # of HP Users    -   Total # of job requisitions (reqs) posted    -   Total # of job reqs active    -   Total # of job reqs active with approved candidates    -   Total # of job reqs filled    -   Total # of job reqs closed    -   Total # of submitted candidates    -   Total # of submittals reviewed by HP    -   Total # of submittals approved    -   Total # of submittals rejected    -   Total # of placements    -   Total # of starts    -   Total # of starts satisfying guarantee period    -   Total # of starts not satisfying guarantee period    -   Total $ fees invoiced to HP    -   Total $ fees paid by HP*Total $ fees owed by HP    -   $ value of each job req    -   $ value of each HP    -   $ value of each HP user    -   Avg $ placement fee for all job reqs posted    -   Avg $ placement fee for all job reqs filled    -   Avg days to fill

Conversion data may also be calculated and determined for a hiringparty. One or more of the following may be determined and displayed bythe hiring platform exchange:

-   -   submittals per job requisition    -   candidates approved per job requisition    -   placements per job requisition

Further, one or more of the following data elements may be tracked andmaintained for staffing parties, including:

-   -   Total # of staffing parties (SPs)    -   Total # of SP Users    -   Total # of job reqs submitted to    -   Total # of submitted candidates    -   Total # of submittals approved    -   Total # of submittals rejected    -   Total # of starts    -   Total # of starts satisfying guarantee period    -   Total # of starts not satisfying guarantee period    -   Total $ fees invoiced by SP    -   Total $ fees paid to SP    -   Total $ fees owed to SP    -   Total $ potential fees currently offered    -   $ value of each job submittal    -   $ value of each approved submittal    -   $ value of each SP user    -   Avg $ fee per placement    -   Avg days to fill

Conversion data may also be calculated and determined for a staffingparty. One or more of the following may be determined and displayed bythe hiring platform exchange:

-   -   Candidate submittal to HP acceptance    -   Candidate acceptance to placement    -   Candidate submittal to placement

According to another aspect of the present invention, a “talent platformexchange marketplace” may be provided that allows the ability for anagent and a recruiter to negotiate the fee for a placement project.Workflow for the marketplace may include, for example:

-   -   An HP recruiter submits a job, specifies the percentage fee for        the job    -   The fee is a number (e.g., with a floor value of 15%)    -   The job can be marked as “open for bid” or not    -   A Staffing Party (SP) agent can submit a candidate to a job    -   If the job is marked as “open for bid,” the SP agent can choose        to include in addition to the candidate information, a proposed        fee, also subject to the original fee (e.g., minimum 15%,        precision)    -   The proposed fee can also be omitted, defaulting to the proposed        fee of the original job    -   The HP recruiter reviews the submitted candidate    -   If interested, the submission data is unblended    -   If the HP recruiter is not interested        -   HP recruiter can indicate the reason for the negative            review. candidate not qualified? fee too high? both?        -   a negative review prevents the agent from submitting the            candidate again to this job    -   Recruiter modifies an already submitted job    -   The modification can include the fee, but perhaps other        attributes such as experience, or other parameter    -   SP agents with an existing submission are notified that the job        has been modified, to give them a chance to potentially        rescind/modify their submission    -   SP agents whose candidate submissions have been rejected        (reviewed “not interested”) are allowed to submit the candidate        again        This is just one of many use cases that show how a particular        workflow between a hiring party and staffing party.        Computer System

As discussed above with regard to FIGS. 1A and 2 , various aspects andfunctions may be implemented as specialized hardware or softwarecomponents executing in one or more computer systems. There are manyexamples of computer systems that are currently in use that may besuitable for implementing various aspects of the present invention.These examples include, among others, network appliances, personalcomputers, workstations, mainframes, networked clients, servers, virtualcomputer systems, cloud-based computer systems, media servers,application servers, database servers and web servers. Other examples ofcomputer systems may include mobile computing devices, such as cellularphones and personal digital assistants, and network equipment, such asload balancers, routers and switches. Further, aspects may be located ona single computer system or may be distributed among a plurality ofcomputer systems connected to one or more communications networks.

For example, various aspects and functions may be distributed among oneor more computer systems configured to provide a service to one or moreclient computers, or to perform an overall task as part of a distributedsystem. Additionally, aspects may be performed on a client-server ormulti-tier system that includes components distributed among one or moreserver systems that perform various functions. Consequently, examplesare not limited to executing on any particular system or group ofsystems. Further, aspects and functions may be implemented in software,hardware or firmware, or any combination thereof. Thus, aspects andfunctions may be implemented within methods, acts, systems, systemelements and components using a variety of hardware and softwareconfigurations, and examples are not limited to any particulardistributed architecture, network, or communication protocol.

Referring to FIG. 16 , there is illustrated a block diagram of adistributed computer system 1600, in which various aspects and functionsmay be practiced. The distributed computer system 1600 may include onemore computer systems that exchange (i.e. send or receive) information.For example, as illustrated, the distributed computer system 1600includes computer systems 1602, 1604 and 1606. As shown, the computersystems 1602, 1604 and 1606 are interconnected by, and may exchange datathrough, a communication network 1608. The network 1608 may include anycommunication network through which computer systems may exchange data.To exchange data using the network 1608, the computer systems 1602, 1604and 1606 and the network 1608 may use various methods, protocols andstandards, including, among others, Fibre Channel, Token Ring, Ethernet,Wireless Ethernet, Bluetooth, IP, IPV6, TCP/IP, UDP, DTN, HTTP, FTP,SNMP, SMS, MMS, SS7, JSON, SOAP, CORBA, REST and Web Services. To ensuredata transfer is secure, the computer systems 1602, 1604 and 1606 maytransmit data via the network 1608 using a variety of security measuresincluding, for example, TLS, SSL or VPN. While the distributed computersystem 1600 illustrates three networked computer systems, thedistributed computer system 1600 is not so limited and may include anynumber of computer systems and computing devices, networked using anymedium and communication protocol.

FIG. 16 illustrates a particular example of a distributed computersystem 1600 that includes computer system 1602, 1604 and 1606. Asillustrated in FIG. 16 , the computer system 1602 includes a processor1610, a memory 1612, a bus 1614, an interface 1616 and data storage1618. The processor 1610 may perform a series of instructions thatresult in manipulated data. The processor 1610 may be a commerciallyavailable processor such as an Intel Xeon, Itanium, Core, Celeron,Pentium, AMD Opteron, Sun UltraSPARC, IBM Power5+, or IBM mainframechip, but may be any type of processor, multiprocessor or controller.The processor 1610 is connected to other system components, includingone or more memory devices 1612, by the bus 1614.

The memory 1612 may be used for storing programs and data duringoperation of the computer system 1602. Thus, the memory 1612 may be arelatively high performance, volatile, random access memory such as adynamic random access memory (DRAM) or static memory (SRAM). However,the memory 1612 may include any device for storing data, such as a diskdrive or other non-volatile storage device. Various examples mayorganize the memory 1612 into particularized and, in some cases, uniquestructures to perform the functions disclosed herein and these datastructures may be tailored to store values for particular types of data.

Components of the computer system 1602 may be coupled by aninterconnection element such as the bus 1614. The bus 1614 may includeone or more physical busses, for example, busses between components thatare integrated within a same machine, but may include any communicationcoupling between system elements including specialized or standardcomputing bus technologies such as IDE, SCSI, PCI and InfiniBand. Thus,the bus 1614 enables communications, such as data and instructions, tobe exchanged between system components of the computer system 1602.

The computer system 1602 also includes one or more interface devices1616 such as input devices, output devices and combination input/outputdevices. Interface devices may receive input or provide output. Moreparticularly, output devices may render information for externalpresentation. Input devices may accept information from externalsources. Examples of interface devices include keyboards, mouse devices,trackballs, microphones, touch screens, printing devices, displayscreens, speakers, network interface cards, etc. Interface devices allowthe computer system 1602 to exchange information and communicate withexternal entities, such as users and other systems.

The data storage 1618 may include a computer readable and writeablenonvolatile (non-transitory) data storage medium in which instructionsare stored that define a program or other object that may be executed bythe processor 1610. The data storage 1618 also may include informationthat is recorded, on or in, the medium, and this information may beprocessed by the processor 1610 during execution of the program. Morespecifically, the information may be stored in one or more datastructures specifically configured to conserve storage space or increasedata exchange performance. The instructions may be persistently storedas encoded signals, and the instructions may cause the processor 1610 toperform any of the functions described herein. The medium may, forexample, be optical disk, magnetic disk or flash memory, among others.In operation, the processor 1610 or some other controller may cause datato be read from the nonvolatile recording medium into another memory,such as the memory 1612, that allows for faster access to theinformation by the processor 1610 than does the storage medium includedin the data storage 1618. The memory may be located in the data storage1618 or in the memory 1612, however, the processor 1610 may manipulatethe data within the memory 1612, and then copy the data to the storagemedium associated with the data storage 1618 after processing iscompleted. A variety of components may manage data movement between thestorage medium and other memory elements and examples are not limited toparticular data management components. Further, examples are not limitedto a particular memory system or data storage system.

Although the computer system 1602 is shown by way of example as one typeof computer system upon which various aspects and functions may bepracticed, aspects and functions are not limited to being implemented onthe computer system 1602 as shown in FIG. 16 . Various aspects andfunctions may be practiced on one or more computers having a differentarchitectures or components than that shown in FIG. 16 . For instance,the computer system 1602 may include specially programmed,special-purpose hardware, such as an application-specific integratedcircuit (ASIC) tailored to perform a particular operation disclosedherein. While another example may perform the same function using a gridof several general-purpose computing devices running MAC OS System Xwith Motorola PowerPC processors and several specialized computingdevices running proprietary hardware and operating systems.

The computer system 1602 may be a computer system including an operatingsystem that manages at least a portion of the hardware elements includedin the computer system 1602. In some examples, a processor orcontroller, such as the processor 1610, executes an operating system.Examples of a particular operating system that may be executed include aWindows-based operating system, such as, Windows NT, Windows 2000(Windows ME), Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 operating systems,available from the Microsoft Corporation, a MAC OS System X operatingsystem available from Apple Computer, one of many Linux-based operatingsystem distributions, for example, the Enterprise Linux operating systemavailable from Red Hat Inc., a Solaris operating system available fromSun Microsystems, or a UNIX operating systems available from varioussources. Many other operating systems may be used, and examples are notlimited to any particular operating system.

The processor 1610 and operating system together define a computerplatform for which application programs in high-level programminglanguages may be written. These component applications may beexecutable, intermediate, bytecode or interpreted code whichcommunicates over a communication network, for example, the Internet,using a communication protocol, for example, TCP/IP. Similarly, aspectsmay be implemented using an object-oriented programming language, suchas .Net, SmallTalk, Java, C++, Ada, or C# (C-Sharp). Otherobject-oriented programming languages may also be used. Alternatively,functional, scripting, or logical programming languages may be used.

Additionally, various aspects and functions may be implemented in anon-programmed environment, for example, documents created in HTML, XMLor other format that, when viewed in a window of a browser program,render aspects of a graphical-user interface or perform other functions.Further, various examples may be implemented as programmed ornon-programmed elements, or any combination thereof. For example, a webpage may be implemented using HTML while a data object called fromwithin the web page may be written in C++. Thus, the examples are notlimited to a specific programming language and any suitable programminglanguage could be used. Thus, functional components disclosed herein mayinclude a wide variety of elements, e.g. executable code, datastructures or objects, configured to perform the functions describedherein.

In some examples, the components disclosed herein may read parametersthat affect the functions performed by the components. These parametersmay be physically stored in any form of suitable memory includingvolatile memory (such as RAM) or nonvolatile memory (such as a magnetichard drive). In addition, the parameters may be logically stored in apropriety data structure (such as a database or file defined by a usermode application) or in a commonly shared data structure (such as anapplication registry that is defined by an operating system). Inaddition, some examples provide for both system and user interfaces thatallow external entities to modify the parameters and thereby configurethe behavior of the components.

According to one embodiment, a talent platform exchange may beimplemented using a distributed computer system. For instance, variousdistributed components may be used to implement certain aspects of thesystem. In one implementation, the well-known Amazon Web Services may beused to implement various web service components. Such services may usethe well-known Elastic Cloud Computing (EC2) services, Simple StorageService (S3), Elastic Load Balancer, and Route 53 DNS services alsoprovided by Amazon. VPN services may be employed for secure access tothe talent platform exchange, by using, for example, Cohesive's FT VPNCubed to create a virtual private network. The 10 gen MongoDB databasemay be used to store talent platform exchange data. However, it shouldbe appreciated that other platform types may be used to perform variousfunctions of a talent platform exchange according to various aspects ofthe present invention.

Having thus described several aspects of the present invention, it is tobe appreciated that various alterations, modifications, and improvementswill readily occur to those skilled in the art. Such alterations,modifications, and improvements are intended to be part of thisdisclosure, and are intended to be within the scope of the examplesdiscussed herein. Accordingly, the foregoing description and drawingsare by way of example only.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method, the methodcomprising acts of: executing, by at least one processor of adistributed computer system, a hiring talent platform program interfaceconfigured to: be called in response to selection of at least oneexchange option within an interface of at least one hiring talentplatform system; and when called, retrieve, from the at least one hiringtalent platform system, in a file format of the at least one hiringtalent platform system, a plurality of job order records submitted viaat least one interface screen of the at least one hiring talent platformsystem generated in response to selection of the at least one exchangeoption; storing, by the at least one processor of the distributedcomputer system, the plurality of job order records in a memory of thedistributed computer system; executing, by the at least one processor ofthe distributed computer system, a staffing talent platform programinterface configured to: be called in response to selection of at leastone exchange option within an interface of at least one staffing talentplatform system separate from the at least one hiring talent platformsystem; and when called: provide, to the at least one staffing talentplatform system, in a file format of the at least one staffing talentplatform system, one or more job order records of the plurality of joborder records for displaying in a user interface screen generated by theat least one staffing talent platform system in response to a selectionof the at least one exchange option within the interface of the at leastone staffing talent platform system; and capture a plurality ofcandidate records submitted to the user interface screen of the at leastone staffing talent platform system for the one or more job records inthe file format of the at least one staffing talent platform system;storing, by the at least one processor of the distributed computersystem, the plurality of candidate records in the memory; automaticallymapping, by the at least one processor of the distributed computersystem in the memory of the distributed computer system, at least onecandidate record of the plurality of candidate records with at least onejob order record of the plurality of job order records based on contentsof data fields of the at least one candidate record; wherein the hiringtalent platform program interface is further configured to: be called inresponse to selection of the at least one exchange option within theinterface of the hiring talent platform system; and when called:calculate learned signals with predefined weights based on past outcomesinvolving the at least one hiring talent platform system that providedthe at least one job order record and past outcomes involving the atleast one staffing talent platform system that provided the at least onecandidate; and in response to calculating the learned signals, provideto the at least one hiring talent platform system, in the file format ofthe at least one hiring talent platform system, the at least onecandidate record for the at least one job order record for displayingwithin a user interface screen generated by the at least one hiringtalent platform system in response to selection of the at least oneexchange option; and updating, based on an outcome of providing the atleast one candidate for the at least one job order record to the atleast one hiring talent platform system, the predefined weights of thelearned signals in the memory of the distributed computer system,wherein the hiring talent platform program interface and the staffingtalent platform program interface are executed as application programinterfaces (APIs).
 2. The computer implemented method according to claim1, further comprising, by the at least one processor of the distributedcomputer system, an act of determining a recommended set of theplurality of candidate records to provide to the at least one hiringtalent platform system based on a respective set of scores for theplurality of candidate records determined by the at least one processorusing the learned signals.
 3. The computer implemented method accordingto claim 2, further comprising, by the at least one processor of thedistributed computer system, an act of filtering the plurality ofcandidate records to determine an optimal number and quality ofcandidate records to provide to the at least one hiring talent platformsystem.
 4. The computer implemented method according to claim 2, furthercomprising, by the at least one processor of the distributed computersystem, an act of filtering the plurality of candidate records based atleast in part on respective scores for the plurality of candidaterecords in relation to the at least one job order record of theplurality of job order records determined using the learned signals forproviding a filtered subset of the plurality of candidate records to theat least one hiring talent platform system.
 5. The computer implementedmethod according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of job order recordsare received from one or more independent entities including a pluralityof hiring talent platform systems, job boards, job banks, social media,and/or career sites.
 6. The computer implemented method according toclaim 1, further comprising, by the at least one processor of thedistributed computer system, an act of directing the at least one joborder record of the plurality of job order records to a staffing partyassociated with the at least one staffing talent platform system, basedon a performance of the staffing party, wherein the performance ismeasured by the at least one processor of the distributed computersystem.
 7. The computer implemented method according to claim 6, furthercomprising, by the at least one processor of the distributed computersystem, an act of directing the at least one job order record of theplurality of job orders to the staffing party based on a determinedcapability of the staffing party to place one or more candidate recordswith the at least one hiring talent platform system.
 8. The computerimplemented method according to claim 6, wherein the performance of thestaffing party is based on previous candidate records submitted by thestaffing party for which the at least one processor determined scores ofat least a threshold value.
 9. The computer implemented method accordingto claim 1, wherein: the at least one hiring talent platform systemcomprises an Applicant Tracking System (ATS); and the at least onestaffing talent platform system comprises an ATS and/or a CustomerRelationship Management (CRM) system.
 10. The computer implementedmethod according to claim 1, wherein the at least one hiring talentplatform system and/or the at least one staffing talent platform systempermits management and tracking of job requisitions, candidates, hiredcandidates, workers, recruiters, hiring managers, and/or vendors by ahiring party and/or staffing party, respectively.
 11. The computerimplemented method according to claim 1, further comprising: converting,by the at least one processor of the distributed computer system, theplurality of job order records to the file format of the at least onestaffing talent platform system.
 12. A distributed computer systemcomprising: a memory; and at least one processor adapted to: execute ahiring talent platform program interface configured to: be called inresponse to selection of at least one exchange option within aninterface of at least one hiring talent platform system; and whencalled, retrieve, from the at least one hiring talent platform system,in a file format of the at least one hiring talent platform system, aplurality of job order records submitted via at least one interfacescreen of the at least one hiring talent platform system generated inresponse to selection of the at least one exchange option; store theplurality of job order records in the memory; execute a staffing talentplatform program interface configured to: be called in response toselection of at least one exchange option within an interface of atleast one staffing talent platform system separate from the at least onehiring talent platform system; and when called: provide, to the at leastone staffing talent platform system, in a file format of the at leastone staffing talent platform system, one or more job order records ofthe plurality of job order records for displaying in a user interfacescreen generated by the at least one staffing talent platform system inresponse to a selection of the at least one exchange option within theinterface of the at least one staffing talent platform system; andcapture a plurality of candidate records submitted to the user interfacescreen of the at least one staffing talent platform system for the oneor more job records in the file format of the at least one staffingtalent platform system; store the plurality of candidate records in thememory; automatically map, in the memory, at least one candidate recordof the plurality of candidate records with at least one job order recordof the plurality of job order records based on contents of data fieldsof the at least one candidate record; wherein the at least one hiringtalent platform program interface is further configured to: be called inresponse to selection of the at least one exchange option within theinterface of the hiring talent platform system; and when called:calculate learned signals with predefined weights based on past outcomesinvolving the at least one hiring talent platform system that providedthe at least one job order record and past outcomes involving the atleast one staffing talent platform system that provided the at least onecandidate; and in response to calculating the learned signals, provide,to the at least one hiring talent platform system, in the file format ofthe at least one hiring talent platform system, the at least onecandidate for the at least one job order record for displaying within auser interface screen generated by the at least one hiring talentplatform system in response to selection of the at least one exchangeoption; and update, based on an outcome of providing the at least onecandidate for the at least one job order record to the at least onehiring talent platform system, the predefined weights of the learnedsignals in the memory of the distributed computer system, wherein the atleast one processor is configured to execute the hiring talent platformprogram interface and the staffing talent platform program interface asapplication program interfaces (APIs).
 13. The distributed computersystem according to claim 12, wherein the at least one processor isadapted to determine a recommended set of the plurality of candidaterecords to provide to the at least one hiring talent platform systembased on a respective set of scores for the plurality of candidaterecords determined by the at least one processor using the learnedsignals.
 14. The distributed computer system according to claim 13,wherein the at least one processor is adapted to filter the plurality ofcandidate records to determine an optimal number and quality ofcandidate records to provide to the at least one hiring talent platformsystem.
 15. The distributed computer system according to claim 13,wherein the at least one processor is adapted to filter the plurality ofcandidate records based at least in part on respective scores for theplurality of candidate records in relation to the at least one job orderrecord of the plurality of job order records determined using thelearned signals for providing a filtered subset of the plurality ofcandidate records to the at least one hiring talent platform system. 16.The distributed computer system according to claim 12, wherein theplurality of job order records are received from one or more independententities including a plurality of hiring talent platform systems, jobboards, job banks, social media, and/or career sites.
 17. Thedistributed computer system according to claim 12, wherein the at leastone processor is adapted to direct the at least one job order record ofthe plurality of job order records to a staffing party associated withthe at least one staffing talent platform system based on a performanceof the staffing party, wherein the performance is measured by the atleast one processor.
 18. The distributed computer system according toclaim 17, wherein the at least one processor is adapted to direct the atleast one job order record of the plurality of job order records to thestaffing party based on a determined capability of the staffing party toplace one or more candidates with the at least one hiring talentplatform system.
 19. The distributed computer system according to claim17, wherein the performance of the staffing party is based on previouscandidate records submitted by the staffing party for which the at leastone processor determined scores of at least a threshold value.
 20. Thedistributed computer system according to claim 12, wherein: the at leastone hiring talent platform system comprises an Applicant Tracking System(ATS); and the at least one staffing talent platform system comprises anATS and/or a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
 21. Thedistributed computer system according to claim 12, wherein the at leastone hiring talent platform system and/or the at least one staffingtalent platform system permits management and tracking of jobrequisitions, candidates, hired candidates, workers, recruiters, hiringmanagers, and/or vendors by a hiring party and/or staffing party,respectively.
 22. The distributed computer system according to claim 12,wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: convert theplurality of job orders to the file format of the at least one staffingtalent platform system.